Spider Lace

Another co-worker retiring, another lace shawl made. It's quite astonishing how much I miss having lace on the needles now that this is done, but there's a sweater UFO weighing on my mind that I'll need to tackle first, before starting a new lace project. One project too big to lug around at a time...

I had been wanting to learn this pattern every since I bought Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today. That book is a feast for the eyes, by the way. This particular pattern doesn't even look like knitting. It looks a little like tatting, which I learned and forgot decades ago. It took me a couple of false starts to get the hang of it, and then I never looked back. I made heavy use of Ravelry's ability to search for people who have made a pattern and left helpful notes.


Long before (fortunately) I started the edging, I realized that my co-worker likes beads. I knew exactly the beads I wanted (round crystals that would look like drops of water), but I had to go through a few weeks of self-doubt, and followed by a few more weeks of research because I absolutely wanted to add them by the crochet method instead of stringing, which meant I had to have a hole circumference and a crochet hook that would play well together, and a vendor (Beadaholique) who made that information easy to find. The beads (and new crochet hook) arrived before I needed them.

I tried the bead placement others had used, and it wasn't enough for me. A little experimenting, a little consultation with my mathematician daughter, and I settled on adding the beads to the edge points of the diamonds in the edging.

Then, finally, the delight of lace blocking, turning this:

into this:

Pattern: A Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging
Yarn: Juniper Moon Findley in Poppy
Beads: Czech Seed Beads, size 6/0, crystal clear
Needles: circular 3.00 mm, with nice sharp tips
Mods: used lots of hints from amvs, divadar,2totangle on Ravelry. Ultimately, I settled on adding the beads to row 1, stitch 6 of the k8 section; and row 9, stitches 2 and 12 of the k12 section in the edging.

Java Jive

I was all set to write about my second pair of socks knit from a particular pattern when I realized I had never mentioned the first pair. Which is astonishing, because I love that first pair. It was another example of a great yarn/pattern match-up. I made a second pair in a different yarn for myself, and I like them, but not with the passion I have for the first pair.

The pattern is Java, from the Knitty Winter 2011 edition. It looked like a fun pattern to try. All I needed was some not too colorful yarn, so all that lovely texture wouldn't get lost. The 2011 MS&W had netted me some Creatively Dyed - Beaches, I think, but the label is long gone. I put the two together, and voila!

Pattern: Java

Yarn: Creatively Dyed (Beaches?)

Needles: 2.25 mm




 
This past summer I acquired some sock yarn as a souvenir of my trip to Alaska, and decided the perfect way to show it off was to knit up some Java of my own. They turned out very nice.




Pattern: Java

Yarn: Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts
         100% Superwash BFL

Needles: 2.25 mm

 I have enough left over to knit something else, something lacy and beaded and totally worthless as outdoor wear on this day when it's snowing and blowing and the temperature is plummeting. Something merely decorative.

 

Knitting from Stash

A co-worker gave me a bag of yarn she'd found when de-cluttering her house, "from when the kids did crafts." Since yarn does not equal clutter in my universe, I was happy to take it off her hands, despite the fact that none of it was yarn I would have bought for myself. Yarn is always useful.


The novelty yarn gave me pause, particularly in partial skeins. I challenged myself to find something to make from the light green eyelash yarn, and came up with a miniature boa for my young niece. It photographs badly, but I think she will like it.

Yarn: a partial skein of Patons Twister (discontinued) in Lime
Needles: Size 15 straight needles
Pattern: Cast on 8 stitches and knit every row until just enough yarn to bind off

~~~~~

That led me to pull a project out of the UFO bin and finish it for my nephew. Made from leftovers from Saige, it was much more fun to knit than to stuff.

 

Yarn: Berroco Sox in Huddersfield (discontinued color), 1/3 of skein

Needles: 2.5 mm double-pointed

Pattern: Celestine Sox

~~~~~

To my utter amazement, I still had enough of that skein to make myself a pair of ankle socks. Despite their bright colors, all of which lie outside my normal palette, I love them dearly. Possibly this has something to do with wearing them to work on a day when the temperature was in the single digits, and having my feet stay warm. But more likely it's because I was able to make them match without even trying hard. I just made my standard toe-up, fits-me sock until I could see that the colorway was finally going to repeat, bound off and started the second sock where the repeat started. The photo is wonky, they are really the same length.


Yarn: same as above, 2/3 of skein

 Needles: 2.5 mm double-pointed

 Pattern: Figure-8 cast-on of 24 stitches, 12 per needle; increase every other row to 52 stitches; 52 rounds of stockinette later begin gusset increases using Wendy Johnson’s Heel Template for a Gusset Heel Sock; knit 13 rounds; make k2, p2 ribbing until the color pattern repeat is coming up; use Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy bind-off.

Sometimes, it's a perfect match, even when they don't match!

Have you ever fallen in love with a pattern/yarn combination?

Leyburn Socks and Patons Stretch Socks was a nice combination, and I made lots of them.

But Hermione's Everyday Socks and Patons Kroy Sock FX is just golden. Also thick and warm and just the thing for this seriously cold winter.

I first tried Hermione on some sock yarn that had defied several tries to knit it up, Southwest Trading Company's TOFUtsies.

I was really pleased with the results, so I used the same pattern on my next socks. And there it was, the perfect marriage of pattern and fiber. I'll admit having to get over the fact that this yarn will not make matching socks. I love their warmth so much it was easy to get over.

I found some more of that yarn in my stash, so I did it again. Although given the color, is anyone surprised that these wound up in KD's sock drawer?

 

Wishing you warm feet this winter, and happy knitting all year!

  

Warm Toes, Eventually

The temperatures took an early dive last month, and I didn't sit there with cold feet for long before realizing that the solution was literally at my fingertips.

I grabbed a skein of yarn (Knit Picks Stroll in discontinued Twinkle Heather),

 

and my current favorite footie pattern (from Knit Picks Fancy Feet), and whipped up a pair of foot warmers.

    

Before you know it, I was showing them off to visiting KD, who immediately noted that they exactly matched her pajama pants.

 

*sigh*

Fortunately, I knew where there was more yarn... (and modified the pattern for a short-row heal and 2x2 ribbed cuff):

Instant Gratification

The Saturday after Thanksgiving being Small Business Saturday, NKD and I went out to support two of our favorite local small businesses. As it happened, NKD had not been in my LYS before, and after initially (and understandably) being mistaken for her twin sister KD, she stunned them all by announcing that she was my Non-Knitting-Daughter. She was raised by knitters, though, so while I took care of some business she ranged through the store, petting the yarn. When I was done, she took me around to introduce me her favorites. Not surprisingly (even her car is blue), this skein of Malabrigo Rasta Superbulky was a favorite.

After some heavy hinting on her part about what a beautiful hat it would make, we included it in our SBS purchases. Once we got home, we round it into a ball. My LYS had offered to wind it up, but NKD wanted to have some part in the process, and she makes a great knitting noddy.

A pattern was quickly chosen (how did we live before Ravelry's pattern search?), and in no time a hat was on the needles.

A very few hours later, the hat was on her head.

 

Pattern:     Big Chunky Comfy Hat, by Erica Kempf

Yarn:         Malabrigo Yarn's Rasta Superbulky in Sollis (804)

Needles:    size 11 dpns

Elapsed time, yarn purchase to head: 4 hours

Magic Lace

  Many years ago, I attended a Yarn Party where the fiber fumes went straight to my head and I walked away with several skeins of gorgeous, mutli-colored lace-weight silk. Very slowly it dawned on me that the beautiful lace patterns I was beginning to love making were completely lost in anything but a solid - or lightly heathered - color. I still don't know what I'm going to do with the green-purple-white that is so breathtaking in the skein, and so utterly useless to make lace with.



But I did finally find a lace pattern that could hold up to the skeins of heathered sea-green. I let the match-up of yarn and pattern bubble away on the back burner for a while, until one day I knew who I wanted to make it for, and why. Then I set to work, and spent a couple of years working at it off and on. This fall it was finished, and I gave it to an appreciative recipient, and updated my Ravelry projects page.

Pattern:   Hanging Garden Stole, by Sivia Harding

Yarn:       Neighborhood Fiber Co.'s Penthouse
                Silk Lace (discontinued) in "Sheridan Circle"

Needles:  3 (3.25 mm)

Beads:     Earth Faire's Wavy Leaves,
                70 (35 on each end, strung on the yarn)


Then magic happened. If you're not a knitter, you probably don't realize that knitters come to have favorite designers over time. The designer of this lace shawl is a favorite of mine - everything she designs is breathtaking. Imagine, if you can, my surprise and delight when she commented on - and favorited! - my knit-up of her design on Ravelry.

Done and delivered!

I finished and delivered the baby blanket before my friend's due date, so we've avoided the Yarn Harlot's superstition. This was a fun knit, working up steadily despite its size. I was a little worried about the edging's tendency to curl where attached, but it straightened out nicely when blocked.

Pattern: Sofo, a free pattern from Berroco

Yarns:

• Berroco Vintage DK in light green (2162)
• Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in green (801)
• Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in natural (817)
• Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in ginger (828)

 Needles: size 8

 Mods: I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off, and ran the blocking wires through it, which gave the edge a bit of a crocheted/ruffled look which I like - on this.

I love the way the single row of light green completely disappears between the rows of white and green, subsumed into the gingham check by the magic of slipped stitches. I always love watching yarn become fabric, but this particular trick never got old.



All packed up with the sheepy sweater and hat, and delivered. Over to you, my friend - time to deliver!

Updated to add: There may be something to this superstition... Baby has arrived safely.

Non-Buyer's Remorse Assuaged

Last May, I saw some yarn I liked towards the end of my day at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I left without buying it, because I thought it was a heavier weight yarn than it actually was, and I couldn't figure out what I would use it for. It promptly started to haunt me, particularly when I looked it up and realized that it was fingering weight, perfect for a shawl. Fortunately, my friend was visiting the Festival the next day. I did a little research to figure out the vendor's name, then emailed my friend a plea to pick me up a skein of it. I was able to tell her exactly where it was in the vendor's booth. I'm not kidding about being haunted.

By the end of the week I had it in hand, and it was everything I remembered. Brown and red and rustic and with a crunchy feel that I found enticing after months of knitting with 100% silk. A few weeks later, I had picked out and purchased the perfect pattern on Ravelry. It was one of those magical combinations of yarn, pattern, and vision. I made it bigger than the pattern called for - I have enough shawlettes, I wanted something to wrap all around me. That meant the knitted on edging was interminable, but I slogged on, sure it would end someday. And then, suddenly, it did!

I could barely wait for it to dry before taking it off the blocking board to wrap around me. It was everything I had planned, and finished in time for a trip to the frozen north.*

Pattern: Henslowe, by Beth Kling
Yarn: Davidson Old Mill Yarn (Domy) Heather in Burgundy, fingering, 342 yards
Needles: Size 4 (3.5 mm) circular
Mods: I made it bigger. Somewhere I have notes on how much bigger, but who knows where

In a delightful postscript, I had just exactly enough yarn left over to make this:

Pattern: Forest Pixie Hat, by Kristen Cooper
Yarn: Domy Heather in Burgundy, fingering, 133 yards, held double throughout
Needles: size 9 (5.5 mm) straights to get gauge
Mods: I skipped the chin strap

I don't even have a recipient in mind. I'll just tuck it away for now.

*The kind of coincidence that only happens to knitters: on my trip I learned that one of my nieces is quite the knitter, and on Ravelry. We met up at a party, and she was wearing her Henslowe!

How to Make a Sweater

Step 1.  Inspiration

Always a fascinating part of the process, this time it was as simple as a friend saying (with great sincerity and in perfect truth) "you owe me one," and adding (not anywhere near as seriously) "that cute sweater on the Yarn Harlot's blog will do."

Step 2.  Acquire yarn

This took a little longer than usual. I stopped by my LYS, where they had already supplied a number of people with the ingredients for that particular sweater - my friend and I were behind the curve, since we'd been far, far away when it was first brought to the knitting public's notice. They had some possibilities left, and I bought them, because I am easily influenced in store settings, where I don't want to upset the nice person who's been helping me. Rational thought asserted itself when I got home and looked at the shade of green I had blindly purchased. I returned the yarn to my LYS (and bought something else, because, you know, I didn't want them to think I didn't like them any more...).

Mr. Internet was then involved, and a short time later, I had yarn: Cascade 220 Sport in green, black, and white. I then coerced a visiting NKD to act as a swift until it was all wound up.

 Step 3. Cast on and knit the body.

This was fun, mindless knitting. I did Jeny's stretchy slipknot cast-on because it looks so nice when followed by ribbing.

Step 4.  Knit sleeves

One at a time, because they're knit in the round. I like doing both sleeves at once, and I know it's possible in the round, but I've never tried it. Along about now I realized I'd been knitting on a size smaller needles for the ribbing than called for, because my needles were acquired in the Dark Ages when knitters believed what they were told and paid no attention to metric measurements (translation: my size 2 straights are 2.75 mm, not 3mm).

Step 5.  Attach sleeves to body, putting everything on a circular needle.

I am about to make the absolutely stunning discovery that my gauge is different on circulars than it is on straight needles. My straight-needle knitting has a machine-like precision that delights me. And which I apparently cannot duplicate on circulars.

Step 6.  Make sheep yoke.

Despair of ever making smooth color work.  Re-work first set of sheep a few times in pursuit of perfection, give up and soldier on. Toy briefly with the idea of only having three buttons (just through the yoke), buy the perfect buttons, notice there are 5 of them on the card, make button bands to accommodate all 5.

Step 7.  Block.

Procrastinate first, sure that even wet blocking will fail to overcome the deficiencies of my color work skills. Wonder if this is going to involve pinning each little sheep out separately. Plunge knitting into water and have it float back up, sheep now completely and perfectly relaxed. All I had to do was get it wet? Why did no one tell me?!

Step 8.  Make hat to match.

How can anything that small make a noise that big?

   I was awoken a good hour before my alarm this morning by an Eastern Screech Owl - according to that page, a whinny followed by trills. Whinny? Horse never occurred to me. I described it to a co-worker later as "the scream of a woman being stabbed, and then purring about it."

I knew as soon as the trills started that it was a bird, and given the hour, an owl, but I had to look it up over breakfast to see which one.

I'm fond of owls, but unlikely to see them in the wild, so I settle for identifying their calls. Now I can add this one to my previous catalog of Barred Owl (who cooks for you?) and Horned Owl. I don't think I've ever heard a Saw-whet, the other owl listed on that page.

Needless to say, I did not get back to sleep. If we could train them, what alarm clocks they would make!

Grey and Rufous Eastern Screech Owl photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

What is the Plural of TARDIS?

I made two pairs of these socks. Color work is never going to be my favorite thing, but when one is surrounded by such ardent fans, something must be done. The pattern itself was a fun knit; I actually didn't mind churning out four of them.

Pattern: Tardis Socks Tribute by Ellen Botilda
Yarn: Jawoll Superwash Solids in Royal Blue, plus oddments of white and black

I've come a long way since having to have Daleks explained to me. I've even become a fan myself. In fact, there was a maple chocolate Dalek not long ago. But of course, he was destroyed. Rapidly. By forks, if I recall...

Inspiration

Sometimes inspiration for knitting strikes unexpectedly, and from unexpected sources. My daughter and I came across an adorable baby outfit for our friends' expected daughter. Knowing that they had designed their nursery around a jungle theme, how could we resist the giraffe print in pale pink, the adorable elephant, the inexplicable owl balanced on his trunk?

Frankly, we couldn't, and by the time we got it home I knew I was going to knit a little owl toy, suitable for a newborn (washable, easily grasped). The stash came up with acrylic remnants in a pink and grey that matched the outfit (pink soles on the feet!). A Ravelry pattern search did not fail me. A quick store run for white felt and safety eyes, and a frantic search for some beak-colored acrylic, and I was ready. Both needles and stuffing were in arm's reach (they shouldn't have been, they should have been put away, but there they were). Moments later I had an owl.

Pattern: Owl Puffs (I will be making lots more, they are adorable. Besides, I have a whole bag of eyes, and the rest of the felt. Who wants an owl?)

Yarn: Red Heart, probably. The bands were long gone.

Mods: reminded my self to under-stuff to make it easier for little fingers to grab

Then I stared at the leftover pink and grey acrylic yarn for a few minutes. Back to Ravelry, which again did not fail me.

Pattern: Little Shells Carseat Blanket
Yarn: same as above
Mods: I started with one color, switched colors every pattern repeat, carrying the unused yarn up the side, and ended when I had enough of the other color to finish. It didn't work out to start and end with the same color, and I'm determined not to mind (no one else does).

And there you have it. A gift set I had no thought of making when I woke up that morning.

Things you do for the fun of it

I used to have a co-worker whose favorite expression was about doing things for "the sheer, glorious hell of it." Knitting is often like that. I gave up on embroidery decades ago because there was only so much you could do with the finished product besides stare at in admiration. Knitting is so practical. Knitting is so useful.

But, on occasion, knitting is for the sheer, glorious hell of it.

When JLM (my co-worker for whom no one had ever knit anything, the one I taught to knit, who brings me yarn from faraway places) offered me the leftovers from her experiment knitting with Japanese metal yarn, I took her up on it. I was just going to knit the equivalent of a gauge swatch, as I did with some silk hankies she let me try, but there was just enough yardage to tickle my creative fancy.

So I made a chain mail vest for the newest baby in the family.

And you really know all you'll ever need to about my family when I tell you that no one thought this was other than a fantastic idea.

 Yarn:  Habu Textiles A-177 Super Fine Merino
 Habu Textiles A-20 silk-wrapped stainless steel

Pattern: no idea after all this time; some top-down raglan cardigan, just bound off the sleeves right where they split off, continued on with just the metal after the wool ran out, and sewed it up the front making sure there was enough room for the typical baby mega-head. 

A Gift from Ireland

Don't you love it when a fellow fiber enthusiast brings you yarn from faraway places? A skein of lovely chunky handspun made its way to me from Ireland this summer. When my traveling friend gave it to me, she remarked that the colors had just seemed to suggest it was for me - and then we had a good laugh, because the outfit I happened to be wearing that day encompassed every one of the fall palette of colors spun into this yarn.

Sometimes I take such gifts into my stash and meditate on them so long I forget their provenance. This one I wound into a ball and cast on immediately, and at the end of the week had mitts and a matching headband that I knew I wouldn't be able to wear for months, but which please me no end.

  

Yarn: handspun wool from Ireland

Pattern: Sherwood Mitts, cuff pattern used to make headband