Collar Closing Cardigan comes to a close

This was such a fun project to knit. I started it on January 27th with the knit-along, and finished it as we were driving to the airport to pick up Sally Melville March 12th. Less than 6 weeks for a long-sleeved cardigan. Not too bad, really. Of course, I understand that Sally cranks out an average of one project every two weeks. Oh well, that's why she's Sally Melville.

Her stuff really is great. Simple and elegant. Like the Einstein coat

And the Faith Jacket

And I think Wobbly Stripes is next...

...in Noro - should it be Aurora or Cashmere Island???

My Noni Bag

These bags are so fabulous! I have been wanting to do one, but had to finish the collar closing cardigan. So, it's done, and I started the Rather Huge Carpet Bag Friday night. And here it is Sunday night, and I'm more than halfway done. What can I say? March Madness has been good for my knitting. I am totally loving the colors. Of course, the camera is at the shop, so pictures will have to come later. I will definitely try and get a shot of the Collar Cardi too.

Collar Closing Cardigan

When Sally Melville's book Color came out, I totally fell in love with this sweater:

And finally, started it a couple of weeks ago - January 27th, to be precise. It's working up really quickly, and I love the colors. Here's the back of it

And here's a close up of the public side of the collar yarns worked together:

I used Berroco Monet and Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon together with the Aurora 8 merino. You would never think that these three yarns go together, but I love them.

I've done the fronts up to where you begin using the collar yarns, so they should be done soon. I hope to start on the sleeves this weekend and get the whole thing completed by next Friday. Hey, we can all have goals. Julie and Lisa have already finished theirs, so I'll try to get photos posted. Linda's working on hers in a spectacular blue combination. I can't wait to see the collar yarns worked together.

I've already planned my next version of this sweater. Can't wait.

What a hellish day I had yesterday! I woke up feeling like I had pinecones in my throat. We’re talkin’ four Motrin and three Tylenol are not taking care of the pain kind of pain. so I called the doctor’s. They’re very nice there, and they worked me in at 10:30. The PA said my throat looked red and yucky, but not necessarily like strep, so she prescribed Augmentin which is a little bit broader spectrum than plain old Amoxicillin. The kids have taken it for ear infections with no issue, but, I’ve never taken it myself. Well, let me tell you, it his hellish stuff. In the old days they used to die without antibiotics, but after this one, I only wished I were dead. One little pill and I sicker than a dog. That leftover Indian food I had for lunch – big mistake…

So I called the PA. She suggested Keflex. Keflex is the stuff that made my mother’s skin peel right off in sheets, so I said maybe not. We opted for plain old Amoxicillin, and she made me promise to call in three days if I wasn’t feeling lots better. I got home and crawled into bed around 6. When I woke up at 8:30, I was feeling a little better, because the Augmentin was out of my system but even today I’m still trying to swallow that pine cone. Oh, and look, it’s nine o’clock. I can have more Motrin. I think I’ll crawl into bed…and knit. Yes, I feel well enough to knit…

Maybe tomorrow I'll feel well enough to post pictures of my Collar Closing Cardigan.

Friendship

I had lunch with an old friend today. We’re exactly the same age, and we’ve known each other since we were five. Our backyards butted up to each other, and we spent the long summers together lying in the grass, or riding our bikes, or climbing onto the roof of the local elementary school and pondering life from a dizzying height. She was a tomboy, and I was Miss Priss, but we loved each other like sisters. We were inseparable.

Her dad died when we were in fifth grade. It was an unfathomable loss for her whole family – especially her mother, who had married the love of her life. The mention of him still brings tears to her eyes 35 years later. We tried to stay friends through the difficult middle school years, but like all young girls, we developed at different rates and had different interests. The final blow was her mother’s remarriage and the family’s move to another neighborhood. Her new home was not far away, but it separated us by the abyss of different high schools.

We tried to keep in touch, but the familiar rhythm of life together was shattered. She went off to college in North Carolina, and I in Virginia. We seldom saw one another, and it seemed so awkward when we did. How could two people who’d been so close drift so far apart? After college, I got married, and then she did the same. We attended, but did not participate in, one another’s wedding ceremonies. We continued to keep in touch through Christmas cards, but I was living in California, and she in Maryland. We moved back east, and something drew us back together. It was more than just the physical proximity. I’m not sure what. Perhaps it was her insight on the unhappiness of my marriage before I’d dared to see it myself. Perhaps it was that we were each finally comfortable again in our own skin. Perhaps it was simply the enormous gravitational pull of shared childhood experiences. Whatever the reason, 30 years later, I am grateful.

Viking lust still strong

Pulled this out of the knitting bag in my quest to identify all UFOs. Although the picture is lousy, it's a gorgeous sweater - at least it is in the book, so I'm hoping a little blocking and some better photography will help. Anyway, here's the back of it.

This guy is really fun to knit when there's cable to work on, and pretty mindless when there isn't. It's worked in Rowan's Wool Cotton which just has the most wonderful hand -all the best o both fibers. Maybe I should spend more time knitting and less time blogging and cruising the web...

Four Corner Collar - a finished object

So, I have had this thing on my needles and 90 percent complete since I went to North Carolina to visit my uncle back in November. It has weighed heavy on my mind, because it’s a tricky pattern, the yarn is expensive, and I’m just not sure that a quick trip through the washer and dryer will fix all these worms. But felting worked on my blue Touch Me scarf, and it will work on this as well. Here is the thing after slipping the stitches to a bit of scrap yarn and before felting:

Worming at the edges

Here is me, gathering the courage to dump $100 worth of Touch Me into a sudsy bath

And here is the capelet after a quick wash (no spin) and a tumble dry. (with several towels that now have a lovely pink hue – yes, it will fade on whatever else is in the wash) You can see that the loose strands of Touch Me have lost all their chenille and are now bald little strands of limp wool. I can see why the tell you to felt the piece before you drop the stitches.

Now, about dropping those stitches. The instructions inform me that I must knit 5 stitches and slip two stitches from the left hand needle, graft those live stitches to the cast on stitches, and unravel the dropped stitches down to the cast on row. Here’s where the real chutzpah comes in. I first unravel one stitch. Despite my fears, it doesn’t unravel into the open area, but rather turns the corner of my short row and makes its way around the square to the cast on row. I do this between each opening. And it looks pretty good. But wait, didn’t I slip two stitches off the needle as I knit that last row? Yes, and there it is waiting to be dropped with its neighbor. And so I do. I’m not sure I like how open this second dropped stitch makes the capelet look. But I forge bravely on. Aaagh. This thing is so fragile looking, and bears little resemblance to the lovely photo published by our friends at XRX.

And here’s a picture of my mannequin wearing the capelet. I’m planning on wearing this thing to the Kennedy Center next month, and I'll try to remember to take a photo.

If I had it to do over again, here are a couple of changes I would make:

1. Knit the whole thing on smaller needles – maybe size 9s or even 8s to minimize worming
2. Graft together the seam before felting and drop one stitch at a time by clipping the thread.
3. Not let fear of failure allow unfinished items to languish in my knitting bag.

Crayon Box Jacket update

I've been keeping up with my New Year's commitment to work a square a day on the Crayon Box Jacket. You can see that here it is the 16th of January, and I have 16 more squares than I did before! I'm really enjoying the way this thing comes together a little at a time. I've added an extra row of squares across the bottom because my gauge is a smidge tight and I want to be sure it's long enough. So far so good.

Here's a look at Cleo, my favorite problem child yarn in this jacket - Cleo from GGH/Muench. Beautiful, but temperamental.

Here's Cate:

I doubt if anyone remembers this project that I started back in the summer, and I actually finished in August at the beach, but I just never remember to take a photo of it, so here is Cate! It reminds me how much I love Giotto Ribbon!

There's a new pattern from Berroco for a wrap-tie sweater in the fabulous Ultra Alpaca Here's a photo. Isn't it cute!

Horndal scarf update

Got a comment on this blog asking if I liked the Horndal scarf once done. Yes! I really do. I updated about the project on the shop blog under Withholding Judgement, but didn't post any photos. I don't thing the photos of this scarf really do it justice. The brights seem to be garishly bright while the muted shades have all but disappeared. It's much prettier in person, but here's the photo anyway.

I didn't read the pattern acurately (story of my life), and ended up doing only 4 inches of garter stitch rather than the requisite 8 inches, so mine looks different from those that others have done, but I love it just the same.

It seems that Noro has recognized that people are using Kureyon for a lot of felting projects and Silk Garden for garments. In response, the new Kureyon colors have gotten brighter, and the Silk Garden colors have gotten more wearable. This scarf looks great in bright colors, so I would recommend the Kureyon rather than the Silk Garden I used.

Dragged through the muck

I've been knitting my mistake rib cowl from the knit-along in a splendid shade shade of pink and ivory. The buttery softness of silk and wool gleaming and and smooth - aaah. So the other day I'm dragging stuff in from the car, my little plastic knitting bag on top of the green washtub of coffee mugs from the shop. I set down the tub and realize that the ball of yarn is still in the bag, but the cowl is not. I see yarn hanging. With the irrepressible urge of a kitten, I pull the yarn. And again. finally I realize that the lovely silk and wool cowl I thought was just in the laundry room had actually fallen out IN THE GARAGE. So by pulling the yarn I had effectively mopped up the dusty garage floor with my silk and wool cowl. What an idiot. I could have just walked my lame butt out there and picked it up, but NOOOO.

I've picked out most of the guinea pig shavings and dusted it off, but it still looks kind of grimy.
So, now we'll have a test on SOAK to see how well it cleans garage dirt and from ribbed silk and wool. Will let you know.

Here's a copy of the pattern in case you want to make your own. Based on a simple mistake rib pattern from Vogue Knitting Stitchionary #1, it's small enough to just fit over your head and still stand up like a large turtleneck. Finished circumference is 24", but you can make it any size you want. Just be sure to use an even number of stitches.

Like the gauntlets, this pattern is perfect for a luxury yarn like cashmere or silk and wool, because it doesn't take much yarn and it lives right up next to your face where you can enjoy the fabulous color and texture.

Two skeins Alchemy Synchronicity
Size 7 needle

Cast on 120 stitches. Join into a round, taking care that stitches are not twisted.
Work one round knitting every stitch.
Next round, knit one, purl one.

Repeat these two rounds until piece measures 8" from cast on row, or until it's as long as you like, or you run out of yarn. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Lady Eleanor

I've been working this with two different dyelots of the same colorway in Ellyn Cooper's Texas Bighorn mohair wool blend.

Horndal scarf

I love this scarf. It's alternating sections of Kureyon in garter stitch and Blossom in 2x2 ribbing. I decided to do it in silk garden and blossom instead of Kureyon and Blossom. It would also be great in a mix of the Nantucket (silk-mohair boucle) and Homespun (silk-wool single ply) from Ellyn Cooper.

Failure to update

Okay, probably no one reads this blog, but I should still update it now and then.

Finished objects since August:

The Faith Jacket


Gloria:


and I've finished Cate in the lovely hot pink Giotto Ribbon. Sorry, no photo.

I would love to know how those bloggers put the photo links down the side of their blog. That may be worth some research

Must...have...this...wrap...

How beautiful is this! What do you think - 30 skeins of dk cashmere, maybe a cashmere silk blend. Gotta get right on this one...

Crayon Box Jacket

Christina brought her completed Crayon Box Jacket by the shop Friday, so I'm newly inspired. When last we met, I'd done one sleeve

And one strip around the bottom plus a little more


Here's a close-up of the second row. I totally love the yarns, and am really looking forward to working on this. Just need to get Cate done so that I can wear it while it's still hot.

The trip to Dunkirk

We drove up to northern Calvert County this morning - very pretty country with its rolling hills. That's what I miss most about Virginia - winding mountain roads and scenic overlooks. And little wineries too - I miss the little wineries tucked away in Virgina's Shenandoah Valley. Maryland is really coming along in that respect. When we went to Sotterly's Wine Fest last year, Bill said that it reminded him of Virginia's wine festivals 15 years ago when they were just getting started. We really need to go to that as well. October 1st for Virginia wine, and the 7th for Maryland. Calendar is marked.

So, on the drive up there I worked on Cate. Right front is two thirds finished. Back and sleeves should be a breeze - hardly any shaping at all. Did I mention how much I love Giotto ribbon? And Colinette in general...

Gloria Cardigan

I really love this cardigan. I finished mine some months ago, but never got a photo up on the blog. I used Karabella Aurora 8 and Kureyon, and they're just gorgeous together. I would knit another one of these because it's quick to work, and the fit is wonderful. I think I did a small, but I'd actually have to check the measurement to be sure.

Rain and Sun

Rain and Sun

One good thing about all the rain last week was that I got to stay inside and knit- look how much I've gotten done on Gloria. I cast on the sleeves this morning - great looking belled cuff.
.

And another good thing about the rain - rainbows - we saw the brightest and most spectacular double rainbow ever. By the time I stopped gawking and got the camera, the second rainbow had faded considerably, but you can still see a tiny hint of it if you look closely.








And yesterday, the weather was so nice we went to the pool where I cast on for the lovely Cate. I know, don't talk to me about my resolution - it's summer time - and who could resist this gorgeous thing in Giotto ribbon??

Here's the first bit of the left front.