Author: yarn & yarns

FO: Nightfall Woodsmoke

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Nothing like 200+ yards of edging to chisel away at a lingering anxiety about knitting lace.

Pattern: Woodsmoke Scarf by Jared Flood
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Fingering (Cosmos & Robot)

 

I bought the yarn back in January with a holiday gift card, knowing that I wanted to knit this scarf. I then proceeded to keep looking at the pattern in Brave New Knits… and keep wimping out. Finally my desire for the finished object won out.

Now the anxiety and delay the lace caused seems pretty laughable. (It’s a mere 8-row repeat over 5 stitches!) The hardest part was figuring out how to join it to the caterpillar created by picking up all 632 stitches in the perimeter.

After that, watching the lace edging grow and the scarf unfurl was really fun — and went too fast. Wait…  Who’d have ever thought I’d say 200+ yards of lace went too fast?

FO: Monster Mash

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My finishing plans for the knitted monsters got derailed last weekend by my own little monsters. And, to be fair, my growing addiction to Pinterest is also partly to blame. It seems Halloween is approaching Christmas in this house in terms of build up and activities.

Along with trying out Ghost Cupcakes (and a half-dozen other Halloween-themed foods), last weekend Izzy’s school had its first Monsters on the Mesa fundraising event, complete with a 1K costume parade for the kids and dogs. Dorothy & Toto were reprised, but this time with a wig. (Note: I’ve long since expected to get a shot of both looking at the camera at the same time.)

But this weekend, thanks to a light activity load (and that extra precious hour), both monsters were assembled and photographed. Here they are before the purple one heads off to MN tomorrow to a good friend’s daughter who is like a sister to Izzy (who’s hanging on to the other one).

Pattern: Penelope the Empathetic Monster by Rebecca Danger
Yarn: Queensland Collection Rustic Tweed
(Forest Green & Grape)

Monsters and Scarves and UFOs, Oh My!

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There’s been lots of knitting lately — between Izzy’s skating lessons and her twice-weekly OT/Brain Training sessions, I’ve managed to squeeze in a remarkable amount of  “out and about” needle time. Concentrated, at-home finishing time? Seemingly impossible to find. Evidence:

A. Woodsmoke Scarf that only needs a half-dozen kitchener stitches (yes, I still fear them) and blocking
B. Tweedy Cowl that needs, geez, four ends woven in and blocking
C. Two Penelope Monsters that have been blocked and stuffed and only need assembling
D. Most shameful of all, a Transverse Cardigan that needs 1-1/2 side seams and buttons sewn on (and that’s been at this state for nearly a year)

To motivate myself this weekend to finish up at least the monsters (one of which is now an overdue birthday present), I’ve set that finishing as a hurdle for casting on a Chadwick with the two skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts I splurged and ordered recently (Mallard and Chestnut). Seriously, folks, the colors of this yarn are even more stunning in person.

My plan has one major flaw, though. I have 1-1/2 hours of lobby time tomorrow evening during Izzy’s OT session. And no way, no how can I sit there without any knitting. Looks like I have a Scarflette to cast on… Make that re-cast on. (But that’s a story for another day.)

PSA, Fellow Knitters: Tanis just launched a line of Merino-Cashmere-Silk yarn, and she’s giving away a skein with a pattern she designed. Enter before Halloween! (And any family looking for Christmas ideas, consider this a big-ole-hint! 😉

FOs: One for Izzy, One for Me

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It took several months, but I’ve recovered from the heartbreak of Izzy having lost the first skating sweater I made her. Yep, you read that right. Best we can figure, it went MIA at either the ice rink or school in April. But since it never showed up in either’s Lost & Found, I’ve consoled myself by fabricating a story about how it’s being worn and loved by some little girl somewhere. Some little girl who sleeps in it and never lets it out of her sight.

So when I agreed to cast on another sweater for Izzy, it came with a sworn promise that she would not lose this one. (And the acknowledgement that if she did, there would be nadda handknits for her for years to come.)

Pattern: Purl Stripe Cardigan by Amy Polcyn
Yarn: Alice Starmore Scottish Heather (Aubretia), Noro Iro (111)

 

It also seemed wise to go stash diving for the yarn. In the end, I ended up frogging a half-finished Tweedy Pie coat I’d started for Izzy when she was three — even at that small size, it was more Seed Stitch (1000-some yards) than I could stomach. The yarn is this amazing heathered purple with bits of violet and pink that’s not done justice by my photos. It also proved to be one of those yarns that change texture completely (from stiff and kind of scratchy to almost fuzzy soft) after blocking.

 

This is my first attempt at a yoke cardigan, which had me quite nervous before the blocking. The fact that I’d pushed the purl stripes by selecting a slightly bulkier yarn than what was in the pattern certainly didn’t help. In the end, I’m reasonably satisfied with the result — the button band is just a bit wavy, but I’m hoping that will straighten out with wear. I’d also done the math to size up two-inches around to make it bigger than the largest size in the pattern. And while it’s a bit big now, given how fast Izzy’s growing, I was happy to see that.

 

To get the color sequencing I wanted, I had to dip into the second skein of Iro I bought for the project. But that left me with nearly a full skein to play with. And who could resist digging through Ravelry to find just the perfect pattern to use up the rest of that glorious rainbow yardage?

Pattern:Mega Cabled Scarf by Marie Connolly
Yarn: Noro Iro (111)

 

Gotta say, I’m as happy with this extra knit as I am with Izzy’s sweater. Now for fall to arrive in Albquerque…

FO: Deep Waters Clockwork

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You know life is a little too bustling when the kid asks to stay home and chill on a three-day weekend.

So after our back-to-back Saturday commitments and the usual weekend chores, we spent the rest of Labor Day weekend watching movies — Rio (meh) and Rango (fun) — and hanging out at the pool.

And, no surprise, there was lots of knitting. With “Deep Waters” and “Mermaid Lagoon” as the yarn color names, this third in my West Knits collection just begged for a poolside shot. And since it was such a relaxing knit, a shot in the Zen Garden.

Pattern: Clockwork by Stephen West
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal and Imagination Hand Painted

 

And, as you’ve no doubt come to expect, there needed to be a few Izzy modeling shots as well.

For the Love of Pete (aka First FO)

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Thanks to Julie at Knitted Bliss, I discovered Pinterest a few months back —and have since spent many hours on my new “online happy place.” The site is an endless source of inspiration for leisurely browsing and a quick way to reset the writing/editing mind (sort of a visual sorbet course).

Yet of the many delightful things I’ve stumbled upon there, this is my hands-down favorite. Those ’70s head scarves? Straight from the Learn to Knit book my grandmother bought me back in grade school. And the item I most wanted to knit. While I labored on my practice swatches of knit and purl, I pondered the flowers vs. stripes question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But Grandma Doris had other ideas… And the yarn money. She showed up with two denim-y skeins of acrylic and insisted that I make the pair of slippers in the book. It would teach me increasing and decreasing. And, yes, I did argue that both were needed to make the head scarf, but in vain. Grandma D. was one tough cookie. So I knit the first slipper.

And looking back at it now these 35-odd years later (have I mentioned my pack rat tendencies?), my first reaction  borrows Grandma D’s favorite exclamation, “For the love of Pete! Her fixation on my finger-threaded tension really paid off.” I mean, seriously. Just look at those stitches. Amazingly even for a 10-year-old’s first project.

Given the clearly unworn slipper shown above, you can probably guess that I never knit the second one. In my mind, I’d proved I could make an FO, and I wanted yarn for that head scarf. To Grandma D., the job was half done — and not to be rewarded. And so the impasse began. (Did I mention that we’re both Tauruses? In fact, if I’d had the decency to wait another 3 hours, we would have shared a birthday.)

I didn’t pick up knitting needles again another 12 years. Yet since then, I’ve never really put them down. Thanks, Grandma!

Saturated Summer

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Hard not to notice a theme looking down at the projects on my needles:  a rainbow of color, the brighter, the better. Extra points for watery blues. Not really that surprising given how hot and dry it’s been here this summer. Everything seems edged in dusty brown. And given the amount of wool I’ve been handling — including Aran and Bulky weight — clearly I’m ready for the next two seasons.

FO: Slightly Carnivorous Herbivore

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Pattern: Herbivore by Stephen West

 

I’ve never really been a shawl person. Then I discovered Stephen West and his unisex designs. Nothing grandmotherly about them.

First up was the Pagona I knit a few months ago. Now the Herbivore. I love the texture of the twisted stitches, but must confess there were times I didn’t enjoy the knitting. It’s too intricate given the fingering weight yarn to be good TV/movie knitting. Yet, it’s just mindless/tedious enough to not be fun to knit for long stretches. If it weren’t for several sessions of “Knit Group of 2” with Jane while the girls were ice skating/hanging out in the pool, I might not have finished it for quite awhile. It proved perfect for rambling chats where you know the other person well enough that you don’t feel rude making infrequent eye contact.

 

Also of huge help was the KPPPM yarn: so soft, so squishy, such interesting color combinations that it was fun to watch the rows take shape. I was so worried after coming up short on yardage with the Pagona that I bought 3 skeins at the outset. I ended up using just shy of two. Now what to do with the other skein? It’s too lovely to return.