Cattywampus

Catching up part 2/2

Does anybody else feel like Christmas completely snuck up this year?  And I don't seem to have the energy to do the things I normally do.  The presents are wrapped, mostly, but I'm not completely done shopping, though I am getting close.  

I haven't made any cookies, and I don't plan to.  We haven't done cards, and I'm not sure if I'm going to get to that either.  I am not lacking in the Christmas spirit, but I am somehow rebelling against the feeling that there are these things I HAVE to do to prepare for the holiday.  That isn't what it's about (the holiday, I mean) and I'm feeling that pretty strongly this year so I'm trying not to push myself to do things just because I feel like I should, I'm worried if I do that I really will lose my Christmas spirit and I don't want that to happen.

I am supposed to be test knitting for Anne, except the first yarn I tried (that I loved) totally didn't get gauge, and the second was a dark blue which shows up fine in pictures, but really looks too dark for the pattern in real life.  Here is a supremely blurry pic

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Anyway.  I decided, after much deliberation, to order a grey that I think will show the pattern better and ultimately be more wearable.  Handy that webs offered free shipping last week, it was right on cue!

I also finished the drops sweater #4563.98 or whatever the heck it's called.  Again, grainy photos, must be the light.

 

I altered the sleeves to be narrower, they were crazy baggy.  I redid one sleeve 3 times to get it right.  I also made the sleeves full length instead of 3/4.

 

I like it, but I have to admit I like Tang better. 

 
 That could be influenced by the crazy cold & rainy day we're currently having, tang is just cuddlier...

I think this will look nice with a black turtleneck under it, it will show off the lace/cable patterning on the yoke.

Just a few more things to finish up.  With Jocelyn's help I picked out a yarn to bring with me on our trip to Belgium (in May) to make Icarus with, Kami Bison Lace, Bamboo, Merino & Bison, so soft, so pretty.

 I am quite happy with this selection, now I just have to wait until May to knit it.  Hmf.

Heather and I decided to do a non-secret pal swap this year and we just sent our packages last week, I got mine on Thursday - look at all the pretty things!

 

She made me the Transition Mitts (that's what they're called, right?), I had asked for fingerless mitts I could take to work and wear with almost anything b/c it gets super cold in my office.

 

It's hard to take a pic of one's hand with the other hand.  Pretty, no?  I love them.  They are perfect!

 

There was lots of yummy chocolates, these adorable little knit mittens, some Unicorn fibre wash which I used yesterday for the blue sweater and I liked it, the smell is a little stronger than soak, but I don't mind it.

 

There is a gorgeous shawl pin (wooden, on the left), which to be completely honest I opened the package and thought "why on earth would she send me a hair pick? she knows I have no hair!"  lol - um...yeah.  Where my brain was - not exactly sure.  

A yummy candle, the interweave weekend issue and the orange-y yarn (which really is more like a deep coral) is twisted sister's lace to make Ann Bud's lace scarf in there, gingerbread cookie mix, and some deep purple, v fine lace weight - there is 1500 yards in that 100 gram skein!  Thank you Heather!  Who need secret pal swaps when my real pal knows me so much better?  That was fun!

And now here is the scarf I made for her:

Wow.  That table is really white!

That is Juno, from Knitty, by Miriam Felton in Fearless Fibers Sock, I think it turned out quite nicely.  

And now we're all caught up!
  

Playing Catch-up

hello!  I guess it's been two weeks since I posted last, it seems I have lots to share so maybe I'll split this up into two separate posts, I'll see if it gets unwieldy.

First, I met Jocelyn Friday morning to chat, knit, and have lunch, alas I did not document any of it outside of the fact that we had the exact same Zauerball (sp?) colorway, what are the chances of that?

 

With or without documentation it was fabulous fun to get together in real life and have time to talk!

Then later that same day, to celebrate dh's #decade birthday we went to Cooperstown, not for the baseball hall of fame as you might first think, but to a Bed & Brew weekend that the Inn at Cooperstown holds with Ommegang Brewery.  It was SO.  MUCH.  FUN.  

 

We found this giant bottle of beer (a jereboam sp?) in our room with two Hennepin glasses to match it.  This picture cracks me up b/c it looks like maybe I am just really small and the beer is normal sized.  An alice in wonderland effect, if you will.

Then Friday night the Innkeeper hosts a beer sharing event, they ask everyone to bring their favorites and it's just a free for all of sampling different regional craft beers and getting to know the other people who are there for the weekend as well.  

Needless to say, we didn't start saturday morning too early, so we pretty much hung out in our room doing crossword puzzles and watching it snow.

 

Pretty!  It was a really pleasant way to spend the afternoon.  In the late afternoon a trolley came to pick us up and take us to the brewery where we were given a guided tour.

 

I hadn't ever been on a brewery tour, so it was pretty interesting.  It's amazing how small this operation really is, all the bottles are hand fed and hand boxed, that made me stop and think.  It also made me realize that buying local beer made by small breweries is actually supporting the local economy in a way I hadn't thought about before, so I feel good about that too. 

Then we went into the gift shop for a beer tasting with some fancy cheeses.

 

As part of the package DH got an Ommegang Hoodie, of which I have no picture but you can see the sweatshirts & shirts behind the dudes.

After that there was a 5 course meal, each course was paired with one of their beers.  No pictures of this, but it was OUTSTANDING.  Then after all that beer they let us loose in the gift shop - they're no fools!

So that was LAST weekend.  And since my finished Tang is in the picture above I will show you the rest of the FO pics for that.

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

 

warm and cozy and the brooks farm fourplay is an amazing yarn 50/50 wool silk it is soft and drapey and gorgeous.  I am now out of fourplay and am very sad about that.  I already have plans to go to MDSW this year to stock up.  

 

Sorry for the grainy quality of the photos, I'm not sure what happened, it's all rainy and yucky today, I'm sure that played into it.

Okay, so that's about half of what I have to say, I'll stop here and do another post cuz this is getting crazy long.  Sorry for the lack of linkage, I am feeling behind in the world and am afraid if I stop to link I'll lose my momentum.

Almost a sweater

The pink Tang is coming along nicely, with a little bit of perseverance I should have it done and ready to go for our trip this coming weekend.  We are going to upstate NY where it is likely to actually go BELOW 50 degrees (unlike Philly which has been at a steady 50 for about 5 weeks now), and I would love to be able to wear it.

A funny thing happened...the mind is a strange device.  

I knew I was knitting this sweater on size 8 needles, knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt.  So when it came time to pick up the sleeve cap I used size 8 double points and thought that the stitches looked a little loose, but figured that was because of the purling and odd angles involved.  Finished the sleeve on magic loop with the original needles, all is well.

I decided to do the neck next because I was anxious to see if my plan was going to work.  I envisioned a cowl neck.  You will notice that this is NOT a cowl neck, I tried, I really did.  I picked up around the rather snug neckhole and increased every two inches (ish) adding a total of another 2 inches (ish) to the circumference of the tube by the end.  I also, as the directions told me too, increased the needle size halfway up the neck so the second half would easily lay over the first half.  I did think that the size 9 needle looked awfully big next to the other needle, and thought more than once that the stitches seemed quite loose, but since I KNEW I was using 8s, didn't think much about it.

I do not have a cowl, that is obvious, I think the neck hole was just too snug to do much flopping, but hopefully the neck is loose enough that I won't feel like it's choking me (as turtlenecks usually make me feel).

At some point in the middle of the night last night I woke up and it was like a scene from a movie where the main character puts the clues together to figure out what's going on.  I saw first one thing, then the next in rapid succession and thought OMG, I'm using SEVENS to knit the sweater, NOT EIGHTS!  And then promptly fell back asleep.  First thing this morning I bolted down the stairs to measure and sure enough, I am using 7s for the body of the sweater.   Mystery solved.

The brain is an amazing, crazy thing.  All those little clues and I was SO SURE that I was using 8s that I just chugged along, not thinking twice about anything, but at some point my unconscious saw the evidence stacked up against my certainty and said "hey - wait a minute!"

And since my sweater seems none the worse off for it, I am not going to undo a stitch, but I do have to decide if I should pick up the second sleeve cap on 7s or 8s.  Symmetry or fix what I can?  Hmf.  What would you do?

When I was on the plane a few weeks ago somebody asked me if I was making a dog sweater.  So I felt compelled to put the body of the sweater on the dog.

 

I was quite amused.  The best part was that the dog loved it and settled down for an hour or so in his cuddly personal blanket.  Do you think he was trying to tell me something?

Pixie, on the other hand, has no interest in holding still for such things, but does love a good peanut butter jar.

 I had a wonderful weekend of family, good food, shopping, putting up Christmas decorations and reorganizing some things.  I hope you all enjoyed the holiday as well!

Two week Shawl

A few weeks ago I found out that dh's work was having a gala and he wasn't supposed to work at the gala, we were supposed to GO to the gala.  ACK!  So there was a frantic search for a dress and shoes, and of course an even more frantic search for a ridiculously quick shawl pattern that I could finish in that time period.

Anne recommended Trevi, and I chose Road to China Light because I fell in love with the color and it didn't hurt that it was a sport weight yarn and that would make it go even quicker.

It turned out lovely, the yarn is absurdly soft, and it really kept me warm.  I'm glad I had it, it was really chilly in the ballroom.  I had never been to a gala before, it turns out it's like a black tie wedding, except nobody is the center of attention.  Weird.  

 

In other news, I decided I was going to darn socks this weekend.  I had 5 pairs that were in dire need of help, two that I had given to a friend and she had returned them for fixing and 3 of my own pairs.  I am SO thrilled that she wears them to a point that they need to be fixed, there's nothing better than knowing my handknit gifts are appreciated and used to that point.

Duke helped me collect the socks and the leftover yarn to use.

I found a great video on youtube and I used that as a starting point.

With a lightbulb substituting as my darning egg, I got started. 

 

My first effort, it didn't come out fabulously, but it'll do for now.

 

It's mate didn't actually have a hole yet, so I swiss darned that one.

 

Which, as I understand it, is simply duplicate stitch over the worn yarn to reinforce it.  (and even if it isn't, that's what I did!)

My next attempt came out a little better.

 

and again it's mate didn't quite have a hole yet, so it got the swiss darning treatment, which I have to say I prefer, so I will try to get to the socks before holes actually start.

 

So four pairs done, one to go.  It is rather time consuming, but pretty zen-like once you get the hang of it.  I am definitely glad to know how to fix them so I don't have to give up on entire socks b/c of one little hole.  

I also learned that top down socks with slip stitch heels wear better for me than toe up socks, so it's a good thing I switched back to that style!  

I have two sweaters going and I managed to take a picture of one of them, Tang, from Fitted Knits.

 

I'm almost on the sleeves, it's all downhill from here!

Salt Lake City is Purty

This is a belated post, I was at a conference in Salt Lake City the weekend before last and it was GORGEOUS!

We had a chance to tour Temple Square, see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform in person, it was amazing!

 

Crazy bird man, check!

 

We ventured out to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake

 

 

 

Even the city itself had the most amazing views!

 

It was gorgeous, you should go.  

Oh & I can't forget The Black Sheep - here's my souvenir yarn!  The store was cute and the people were very friendly and helpful.  

Sorry for the short (on words) post, it seems that if I let something go too long I have very little to say about it, but I did go, it was lovely and I do recommend it if you have a chance to stop by there on the way to or from somewhere.  

And the winner is...

Who doesn't love a good bathroom mirror shot?

or three?

 

So here she is, the Pompon sweater from Feminine Knits, conspicuously without pompons.  You also might notice that I am not wearing the undershirt that I should be wearing with this, but I won't tell if you don't.  I promise I will wear it when I dress for work.  

In Lorna's Laces GreenLine DK, changes to pattern:  3/4 length sleeves instead of short sleeves.  A wool sweater with short sleeves just seems silly.  

I must have had some gauge issues b/c I made the smallest size, 36", and while I haven't measured this it is definitely more like 33".  I could probably get another inch or two in there if I blocked it more severely, but I'm happy, so I'm not worried about it.

Compared to the purple sweater which I thought was quite Meh indeed, I am totally and completely thrilled with this and can't wait for this silly 60 degree weather to leave so I can wear it.  

This has been a long time in the making, I started it when I went for jury duty in mid-july and finished the body, then it hibernated for a few months until I managed to finish the sleeves.  The idea of making them longer and thus the computations necessary to figure that out really seemed daunting at the time, but once I really sat down to do it I didn't have any trouble working it out.

I spent 2.5 hours seaming this and all I had to do were the shoulder seams and the sleeves, I knit the body in one piece.  I detest seaming.  I am glad the three sweaters I have OTN right now are all seamless.  I have to admit, I like the way sweaters with set-in sleeves fit, they tend to have more shaping than raglan style, but I would still prefer to do the top down short row sleeves instead of seam them in.  It just seems cruel and unusual to be all DONE but with so much work left to go.  Hmf.  

I whine, but it was worth it.  I luuurrrrrvvve it!

One Meh, One YAY!, and one TBA

Last week I finished Elaine's Blouse, let's not talk about how at the very end I realized one sleeve was two stitches larger than the other.  I don't know what it was, but this sweater and I did NOT play nice together.

I am not thrilled with it.  I don't hate it, but it certainly wasn't worth all that time and trouble.

 

I may try to throw it in the dryer (this seems to be a theme with me lately) to see if I can tighten it up at all, but I don't know if I'll bother, the weather to wear this has more or less passed until April, so I may just wait until then to see if my feelings about it change.

 

I know it doesn't look actively bad, but after all the problems I had with it I was hoping for a WOW finish and I didn't get that.

I have, however, finished my lacy scarf for my not-so-secret pre-holiday exchange with my friend Heather and while I think the instructions weren't the best (I kept having to k2tog when it wasn't in the pattern to make the YOs line up right), I am thrilled with the final product, which you can't see yet b/c she would see it too and that would ruin what was left of the surprise.  Be assured that it is fabulous and I will show it to you when I can.

Also, I finished the red Pompon sweater from Feminine Knits which looked like this last week.  

Now it looks like this.  

Hence - tba - I am most optimistic though, I have no reason to think I won't love it.  Things are going to be a little hectic this week and I'm not sure when I'll have time to sit down and seam it, but soon.  

In other news, I am going to a black tie gala.  Long story short (btw, I just found out what tldr meant a few weeks ago, I am so behind the times) we knew about the gala but thought dh had to volunteer at it, turns out we need to go, in three weeks.  This was discovered on thursday.  Friday I was in a panic b/c I will be out of town at a conference the end of this week and the weekend and out of town the following weekend too, so the whole outfit had to be purchased this weekend, and - this is where the knitting comes in - I only have three weeks to make a shawl.

I asked Anne, and she recommended Trevi, but I had no appropriate yarn.  So Jennygirl & Suzygirl were nice enough to abandon our lunch knitting on friday and quest with me to Rosie's where I picked up Road to China Light in Garnet, which is thicker than the recommended yarn but I hope will still be elegant even in that heavier weight.

 

This yarn really doesn't photograph well, it's a true garnet color, deep red, maybe a bit more purpley than orange tone, I guess the fiber make up causes the light to reflect off it oddly for pics.  

I did find a dress  and shoes at Macy's and with undergarments and all it totaled less than the tux he has to rent, and I get to keep mine!  Now off to the races with the shawl!

Like I said, later this week I am flying to a conference - in Salt Lake City, so as long as my needles don't get confiscated I will have some good solid hours to work on it this weekend.  I also have to choose a stockinette project to take along with me for brainless conference knitting.  I was thinking either this vneck or this absurdly plain but still adorable cowl neck.

Choices, choices!  I also have to start soon on some little sweaters for my Goddaughter & her baby brother or else they won't get done by Christmas, maybe I'll get one of those started today.  Such little things don't take long, but if I never start them they will certainly not be done in time for Christmas!

Today is the 18th day of rainy weather we've had straight so I am ignoring the outside and hunkering down, knitting, baking scones and bread, making soup - and thoroughly enjoying the extra hour in my day, the one good thing about the time change in the fall.

Food. Fall is about food.

Is it that this is the time of year when our ancestors used to harvest and store food, is it the natural turn of the seasons that signal our bodies to want hearty, warm meals?  I don't know what it is, but in the fall I want to cook and I want to eat hearty, filling, and probably fattening foods.

Friday I was off and I spent a good bit of time cooking.  For lunch I made curried roasted butternut squash and put it on a salad with crunch sprouts (these are new for me, I love them!), goat cheese, & french lentils.

This week I went to a class on indian cooking and learned to make a few things (theoretically).

 

Hmf.  That came out smaller than I anticipated...

Anyway.  So yesterday I roasted my own spices.

 

So that's a no-go with the plastic spoon, it started to melt.  That's a first.

Then I ground them in a coffee grinder and made chicken curry that ACTUALLY tasted like real chicken curry, not just an acceptable at home substitute, but real chicken curry.  YUM.  Of course I forgot to take a pic of that, the eating took precedence there.

I also made what the instructor called mint chutney, this is what I know as the green stuff that comes with the papadum at restaurants.

 

And I made the papadum to go with it.  First of all, this is enough green stuff to serve at a dinner party and second of all, it was so hot that you couldn't eat more than two bites without crying.  We both like spicy food, so this was no meager level of spiciness.  I think this may be my fault, the recipe said green chiles, the only green chiles I found at the market were serrano chiles, and they're green, so I put in two of those (recipe said four, but they smelled really hot, so I held back).  Maybe serranos are hotter than those little green chiles?  Either that or I got super, super hot chiles.  Whatever happened, I have no idea what we're going to do with this much of it!

Verdict:  Delicious and worth all the effort with the spice roasting & all that.

Tonight - chicken parm

 

with fresh pasta from DiBruno Bros.  Again I say YUM.

Tomorrow - leftovers baby!

The Knitter's Book of Wool

Clara Parkes' much anticipated new book, The Knitter's Book of Wool, is out, and it is every bit as wonderful as you hoped it would be.  I also have her Book of Yarn - I learned OODLES from that, and this book takes it one step further.

When I first heard what it was about I thought it would be a book aimed at spinners, but happily for me and everybody else who doesn't hear the siren song of the wheel, it is aimed at anybody who is interested in wool and in turn, the sheep it comes from.

Maybe you don't have an interest in where your wool comes from, but you have an interest in why different types of wools perform the way they do in a finished garment, this book will help you understand that too.

I now understand why yarn made from specific breeds is more expensive than generic yarn, and because of that I will be more willing to pay a premium price for those yarns in the future.

Here is a picture of locks of fleece from different breeds next to each other - no wonder they end up as completely different finished products!  

Personally, as an aside, BFL is one of my FAVORITE yarns to work with and it is the only type of yarn outside of merino that I am able to tolerate directly next to my skin.  (and now I know that it's a longwool with a demiluster shine)

Clara takes you from the sheep through the processing, so if you've ever been curious about the details of how the fleece gets turned into yarn you can read about it here.  After that she goes into details about specific breeds of sheep and what types of garments that yarn will be good (and bad) for.

Getting on to my favorite portion of the book, the patterns!  There are many lovely patterns in this book, mittens, a few hats, a family of sweaters, two cardigans, a handful of socks, a lace tee, and a few other things I probably missed.  For the most part all these patterns are accessible to beginner to intermediate knitters, but my favorite - as my obsessions have led me lately - are the shawls.  There are four, two stoles and two triangular shawls.  Two of them really caught my eye; first this triangular shawl by Evelyn Clark (Prarie Rose Lace Shawl) using sock yarn or doubled lace weight, perfect for a fingering weight that you can't bear to put on your feet.

And second, I fell hard for this Sivia Harding beaded stole, Tibetan Clouds.  It is shown here in Sundara Fingering Silky Merino, but there are many gorgeous fingering weights that could be used for a lower price point.  I have already investigated my stash and just need to order some beads to be able to start on this one.

What to knit, what to knit?  Too many gorgeous things to make and not enough time.  

One of the things I love about both of  her books is that Clara takes the time to tell you why the yarn shown in each particular pattern works for that pattern and what other things could be substituted, in some cases, like the Prarie Rose Lace Shawl, it is even shown in two different yarns so you can see the way the chosen yarn changes the finished project.

Bottom line:  Even if you don't care where your yarn comes from this book is worth it for the patterns alone.  (but I hope you do care, because I'm a big geek and think it's fascinating)

Disclaimer:  I did receive a complimentary copy of this book for review, but I would have loved it just as much if I'd paid full price for it.  

Hat update!

Turns out, it shrunk even a little more in the dryer and it's all good.  I am pleased!

 

 

In fact, I like the color combo so much that now I'm going to order yarn in similar 

colors to make a scarf and mitts.  So much for stash busting...