Tag Archives: Knit

Sing to me

Posted on December 8, 2008 | 8 comments

Or, behind the scenes in the process of choosing a project.

The new yarn (Crystal Palace Taos) is being a bit difficult. It’s lovely stuff, very soft, and the colors are beautiful. But I’m still not sure what to knit with it. Nothing is singing to me.

At first I thought a bit of feather and fan would be fun. I’ve always wanted to knit a feather and fan lace pattern, and Two Weeknights with Warrick looked like it would be perfect. Great pattern, easy to memorize. Alas, it doesn’t do justice to the yarn. I’ll knit this pattern with a different yarn somewhere down the road.

So I cast on for the checkerboard scarflet. But the checkerboard was getting lost in the color changes, or the color changes were getting lost in the checkerboard. I’m not sure which.

I poked around on Ravelry to see what other people made with this gorgeous yarn. A lot of entrelac! And some mitered scarves. Aha. How about the Pioneer Braid Scarf? I cast on this morning and knit for a bit. The pattern is ingenious. Here’s what it looks like. And this is a much better depiction of the true colors.

It’s better than the first two tries, but it still doesn’t sing to me. And I’m not sure I want to knit an entire scarf right now. Tempus fugit! I’m thinking that I’ll play with some entrelac. I’d make a Quant, but the intended recipient isn’t a headband sort of person. On the other hand, I’m not sure she’d use the entrelac item I have percolating in my mind, either. But at least I’d get a design out of the yarn. If I do it. What I thought would be a straightforward project, isn’t. Le sigh.

Well, the yarn isn’t singing to me yet, but I was singing yesterday! The Day Old Pastries, my folkie group, played and sang carols at our church Advent Festival in the afternoon. From there I went to sing with the Everyone Welcome Community Choir at Artichoke Music, and that was a blast. Here’s a clip of one of my favorite songs from yesterday, Siyahamba. It’s South African (Zulu). Enjoy!

8 Comments

Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, pattern design, ravelry

Tagged Knit, singing, siyahamba, taos yarn

Knitting holidaze

Posted on December 6, 2008 | 8 comments

Okay, it got me. I need to knit at least one Christmas present. And here’s the yarn for it. So gorgeous. I can’t tell you who it’s for (a secret, of course). I’m not even sure what it’s going to be! I was thinking scarflet, but it depends on what the variegated yarn looks like when I swatch. It’s prettier in real life, but it’s dark out so we have a kitchen counter picture because that’s where the bright halogens are.

Here’s the second scarflet, which I never photographed before it went to its new life as a shop model. Isn’t it glamorous, being a model? She’s living over at Twisted.

Here’s the sky this evening. A front is coming in, and that makes for the best sky pictures!

8 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, scarflet, sky, yarn

Winter = hand knits

Posted on December 5, 2008 | 13 comments

I’m at home today while contractors install insulation under the floor of my living room and dining room. That means a day of putting up Christmas and Hanukkah decorations and baking for an event on Sunday.

I’ve decorated the wreath on the front porch:

You can find my free pattern for these ornaments here. I always put mini candy canes in the stockings for the kids that walk by on their way to school.

The stockings are hung:

And the tree is up, too.

Yes, this is all the tree I can manage. A few favorite ornaments, and I’m done. Mookie likes to chew on real trees, and then she gets sick. Who needs that?

Oh, btw, Mookie wants to go to Paris.

She takes after me. C’est vrai. J’adore Paris!

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris.

You’re the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

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Did any of you happen to catch the convergence of Venus, Jupiter, and the moon? They were at their closest this last Monday. I was flying home on Sunday night and saw it out the window of the plane. Some unknown (to me) town was underneath.

It’s hard to get a picture of a night sky from an airplane window with a point and shoot camera!

May your days be merry and your nights be magical.

13 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged christmas, christmas stocking, Knit, wreath

I’m a winner!

Posted on December 1, 2008 | 6 comments

Liz had a contest to celebrate her blogoversary, and I’m a winner! The prize is two skeins of Mirasol Hacho, a dk weight yarn. I can’t wait to get this yarn in my hands; I’ve used it before and love the weight of it. Just right for sport/dk weight socks, which is what I like to knit. Thank you, Liz!

If I ever have to go on the lam, I don’t want Tami tracking me. She’s a super-sleuth! I asked if anyone could figure out where I was last weekend, based on this statue.

Here’s her comment:

“We were watching Anthony Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ and this episode is set in Colombia where there’s a whole plaza of Fernando Botero statues.

A little work to get his name again and then search for ‘man & horse’ tells me that you are visiting here:

“This statue is located in Clayton, Mo. at the intersection of Wydown and Hanley. The statue is constructed in bronze by Columbian artist Fernando Botero.”

The picture I found shows that there’s a Starbuck’s behind him too, so you don’t have to be deprived while you’re in the middle of the country. ;^)

Have fun!”

I did have my holiday kick-off peppermint mocha at Starbucks over the weekend, and I think Tami was watching. Such diligence requires a reward. While this wasn’t an actual contest, she gets an actual prize!

This is a tape measure from Lantern Moon. Seasonally cute! Tami, email me your snailmail addy, and I’ll send it to you.

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged botero, Knit, lantern moon

Moving right along…

Posted on November 29, 2008 | 9 comments

Moving right along…

I finished the third purple afghan square, the Twirly Square. It does look better with fewer rounds of stockinette and reverse stockinette. More chances to alternate! I found out that Anne lives just a few blocks from me, so that will be an easy drop-off. It’s a small world.

I think I finished the left front for Hey, Teach. I don’t have the back with me to make sure they’re exactly the same number of rows, so nothing is bound off. That’s what stitch holders are for! I’m going to use a three needle bind off for the shoulders anyway, so I won’t bind off until assembling.

Where am I? Here’s a hint.

I love this statue; it’s all rounded and smooth and chunky, too. It went up several years ago and was a source of bemusement for the family, but I think it’s cool. Do you know where it lives?

He looks a bit chilly this morning. Maybe next time I’ll bring him a hand knit scarf. And fingerless gloves. And socks! I’d have to enlist some help getting him accessorized, though; the horse is pretty tall.

Other fun: I’ve joined the Everyone Welcome Community Choir for six weeks. This was an outgrowth of the harmony singing class I took in October and November; the teacher is the director of the choir. We’re singing at a benefit concert at/for Artichoke Music at 5 pm on Sunday, December 7. If you’re in PDX and looking for something cool to do, come on over! The music is interesting, lots of world music. My favorite songs so far have been from South Africa.

Enjoy your weekend!

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, music, travel

Tagged charity knit, hey teach, Knit

I see knitting everywhere

Posted on November 27, 2008 | 7 comments

I went for a walk while Thanksgiving dinner was cooking. This tree bark reminded me of cables:

I stopped at Starbucks on the way back, and finally saw some of the yarn decorations I’ve been reading about on other blogs. The yarn balls don’t look real; maybe because they’re wound more tightly than I wind mine? Or maybe they’re wound around styrofoam balls? I didn’t squeeze them; it was probably weird enough that I was taking pictures with my phone.

I didn’t have my regular camera with me today. Tomorrow!

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. We had a great time with three generations of family. I’m thankful to be a part of it.

7 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, yarn

Knit a purple square

Posted on November 24, 2008 | 7 comments

or two, or three…

I’m knitting a few squares for Anne’s Knit A Purple Square project.

These go pretty quickly in worsted weight yarn. The upper left square is the same pattern and yarn as my Checkerboard Scarflet. I measured my scarflet, and it’s 6 inches wide, which meant no refiguring gauge to get a six inch square! The Mitered Square is the same gauge as my garter stitch log cabin blanket; I just counted to find that 27 stitches = 6 inches, so this mitered square starts with double that, or 54 stitches.

The third square, still in progress, is based on Joan Schrouder’s afghan square in XRX’s Great American Afghan. It’s a twirly square! I’m going to rip it out and do it again with fewer rounds of the stockinette/reverse stockinette per stripe, so it can have more stripes within the 6 inches. Instead of 6 rounds, I’ll cut it back to 4 for each stitch pattern. I’ll stop at 5 inches, and add a garter stitch border. It didn’t take long to do (I was standing in line at student/teacher conferences this morning) so it’s an easy re-knit.

How was *your* weekend?

I’ve been thinking about this picture for a week. I didn’t have a camera on my walk last Sunday, and then the rains came. My next chance came yesterday.

I love the way the ghosts of the leaves remain, long after the leaves are gone.

The brown leaves caught in the camellia hedge look bittersweet.

I like these late afternoon walks. The slanting light makes everything look slightly magical. There’s not time for a long walk, but it’s pretty invigorating anyway, because of these:

The neighborhood is built along a ridge, and there are public staircases between some of the hillside lots. Three are close to my house. They’re like secret passages, and they get the heart pumping!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, Uncategorized

Tagged autumn, charity knit, Knit, leaves, mitered square, PanCAN, scarflet

Report card

Posted on November 21, 2008 | 10 comments

I finished the back for Hey, Teach last night. I love the way it looks. The yarn is kind of splitty, tinking is a pain, and cotton is tiring to work with. My hands felt stiff when I woke up this morning. But look how pretty!

Yes, it’s sunny this morning, but everything is wet outside, so I’m reduced to chasing the sunny spots on the floor, much like the cat does.

I also finished the blue checkerboard scarflet, and took it over to Twisted to be a shop model. But I forgot to take a picture of it, so it’s not pictured here or on Ravelry. Yet.

I’m going to be knitting some purple squares for Anne’s Knit A Purple Square project. She’s making a purple afghan in honor/memory of her husband, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer last June. The afghan(s) will go either to a local cancer ward, or to raise money for PanCAN (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network). Can you knit a purple square, too?

10 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged charity knit, hey teach, Knit, PanCAN

Winner!

Posted on November 14, 2008 | 5 comments

I’m a winner! KnittedWit had a contest on her blog, asking for voting stories. Here’s the prize: four ounces of her yummy hand-dyed yarn, 185 yards, color “passion,” 100% merino bulky weight.

The color in this picture is a little more true:

See all the lovely shades of purple in there? I love semi-solid colors. I think this may become a new chunky scarflet in some interesting texture, but you never know until the yarn speaks. Thank you, Lorajean!

Knit night was fun last night, but there was a stray dust bunny. Godzilla-sized. Yikes. I showed Cathy how to short-row shoulders for her DH’s vest. This is a complete rip and re-do, and she’s almost done. Can’t wait to see the finished vest. It was good to have to explain short rows to someone else; it really solidifies the process for me. I’ve done it twice, explained it once, and now it’s internalized.

The pianoworld.com Adult Beginners Forum online recital goes live tonight at midnight. I squeaked in under the wire at number 64. Here’s a direct link to my piece; it’s Valse No. 1 from Valses Poeticos by Enrique Granados. I’m working on a couple others from this set, too, but they’re not ready for prime time!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, piano

Tagged granados, Knit, pianoworld.com, yarn

Like the fat man in Dune…

Posted on November 13, 2008 | 4 comments

Knit nite is at my house tonight. The house is, um, untidy, and there are dust bunnies (rabbits? lambs?) everywhere. I need to pick up a bit, go to work, come home, pick up some more. I’ll be flying around the house like the fat man in Dune. (I never saw the movie, just the trailer, with the…well, you get the picture.)

At least dinner is ready. Mom likes to go to Olive Garden for lunch when we’re out running errands. I love the Zuppa Toscana (sausage/potato/kale soup) there. I found a recipe for it last week and tried it. It’s pretty close; I did leave out the bacon, though. The sausage is enough! I made it again yesterday for tonight’s dinner; it’s better on the second day.

Not much knitting to show; the log cabin blanket is bigger, the secret project is longer, and the Hey, Teach is still in swatching mode. Second scarflet is done except for buttons. Maybe I’ll get some knitting done tonight.

It was wash day for the Fetchings here. I washed Mom’s for her; she once shrank a beautiful star tam that I made for her, and so now I’m in charge.