Lace Ribbons

This project may be at the top of my Super Satisfying Knits list. At least in the Scarf Department. So would that be, SSKL - SD? For once the scarf knitting did not wear me down 3/4 of the way through. This project hit all my sweet spots: color, yarn, fabric, pattern, Audible.com enjoyment, recipient.

For one, the yarn is beyond fantastic. I found this gorgeous Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn, the last two two lonely skeins at Brooklyn General and pounced. Yes, I know I have a jumbo stash, but I didn't have THIS yarn. And THIS yarn was perfect perfect perfect for the project. Initially it was the color that grabbed me. Coppery brown, with subtle glints of gold, blue and lavender. It has depth and roundness.

The next thing that appealed to me was the smidge of Mohair in the yarn. Just enough to add wonderful drape to the fabric and give it a a soft cozy hand and a bit of a halo. Mmmm, this is nice stuff. It's sock yarn - warm socks for sure. Has anyone used this yarn for socks? I'd love to know how it holds up and whether your feet are impossibly hot?

And then there is the pattern. Lace Ribbons by Veronique Avery has been in my Ravelry queue since forever. Occasionally reviewing the ever-expanding queue, I repeatedly landed on this scarf and thought "someday..." About time, I say.

My work friend L started reading my blog after I pinged the link to her one day after (dare I say, during?) a lengthy contract negotiation conference call. She was so complimentary and I was flattered. Yes, flattery does win points! We've stayed in touch long after the contract was signed...two years it took to close that one...gawd...and I'd promised to knit her a scarf one day.

That day finally arrived and once I cast on, I could not stop! I found this pattern engaging enough to keep my interest all the way through yet easy enough that I could whip it out while on the commute and polish off a few rows between stops. Perfect commute knitting, and it was nice to work on something at a larger gauge than socks for a change! Unlike so many of my other projects, I stuck with this one for the entire time - usually I put one project down, start another, and well, you all know how that goes. Before you know it, there are five projects on the needles, all of them screaming for attention.

It helped that I was also listening to one of the best books I've 'read' in a long time, "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout. Oh, man what a wonderful book. The words! So so so good. This book won the Pulitzer, and unlike other awards granted this year, this one was deserved. As stated on the Pulitzer's web site, Olive Kitteridge is "a collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating." If you have not read this one yet, run to your nearest bookstore to pick it up.

Anyway, one Sunday a few weeks ago L and I had a lovely brunch in Greenwich Village and I gave her the scarf. Which she promptly put on her neck and did not take off the rest of the afternoon. We wandered around a bit after we ate and it was a fun afternoon - the weather was that perfect Fall in New York City and the streets were teeming with people, sun shining, lots of things to see.

When L asked for a scarf she said she preferred neutrals. I gave this lots of thought and realized beige would NOT cut it. I am so glad I took the risk on the yarn. The pattern speaks for itself, I WILL knit this one again. For myself! And as you can see, L looks fantastic, the scarf is flattering, and I am so very pleased with the way it all turned out. Enjoy it, girlfriend!

On the Verge

A friend of mine just used a very interesting analogy about where I am right now.

Imagine a wolf in a trap and the wolf is chewing its leg off to get free. Eventually the wolf does free itself from the trap. It limps away but it does get free.

Oh yea. Still chewing...but about to break free.

Sorry. I know that's harsh. But some days it really does feel like this.

Yarnmaker Returns

Two new yarns, one pre-Rhinebeck and one post-Rhinebeck.

The first, a two-ply spun up woolen from Jacob Sheep roving purchased last May. My first attempt at a long draw. Needs work but I am quite pleased and even more intrigued. I definitely want to spin more rovings, using the long draw, making woolen spun yarns.

I think what I love the most about this yarn is it's not a bunch of colors - the natural colors of the sheep are quite pleasing. The yarn has a nice bounce; it's super lofty and squishy. And there's still some lanolin in there. Yea baby, I like the rustic and primitive!

Another exploration on 3 ply. This started as Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club, August 2009, named Zombies. It's Falkland one of my favorites to spin. I divided the top into three equal sections. The first ply was stripped in half and spun from the end. The second ply was divided into about 6 sections, broken by color group. The third ply was stripped into about 6 -8 thinner strips.

It came out way better than I expected and I love love love this yarn. About 200 yds; squishy, bouncy and soft. I'd never have predicted the result when looking at the fiber.

The Sky Bandit, She is Finished

Thank goodness.

In the last update you will recall I agonized over the size, proportions and color. Ach, not to worry, it's is all good. The color is fine, not baby. The proportions (six body repeats, one edge section) work fine and the size is good for a scarf/shawl/bandito-style neck warmer.

Thanks to all of you in the knitting blogworld who gave me the encouragement to continue on this project.

Not without some little ups and downs, mind you. You know how you're knitting along and you're seeing the yarn ball getting smaller and smaller and you're thinking 'oh NO! I'm running out of yarn! Knit faster!!" Yea. That works every time. There was a moment or two when I thought for sure I wouldn't have enough despite ripping back to six body repeats. Turns out my remainder is about the size of a small plum. As in, not much - note scale next to Eiffel Tower and Peggy's Cove Lighthouse.

There is a rhythm in this pattern that had me thinking of drives I used to take down into southern Lancaster County back in the day. I'd go for these drives on summer evenings and the hills would roll and roll and roll, then the road would straighten out and calm down for a bit. But before too long, there you are again rolling and rolling and rolling, up and down, twist and turn. So this pattern has these sections you're knitting along, stockinette,all easy and sort of lullaby. Then whoops! you got the YO, K2tog, YO, SKPSSO, whammo bammo combination, all rapid fire and rat-a-tat-tat, you know.

That's how the body section works up in this shawl. Then you get into the edge section and things are a bit more interesting. Hold on, things change up and there are mental adjustments to make! Pay attention! Before you know it, you're up to the last four rows. I don't know about all you other Bandit knitters, but I had to knit verrrry slowwww to avoid making mistakes.

All this edge of my seat nail biting excitement happened over two weeks ago now. I finally blocked it yesterday. As I was threading the shawl onto the blocking wires, I couldn't help but think how using these things is like putting lace into bondage. I mean, seriously, it's like beating the lace into submission or something.

Astute shawl knitters will note that the spine on this pattern does not act like other shawls as this one has an integrated leaf pattern rather than the straight line of YO, K1, YO as in most patterns. That little difference and the lack of points in the edge make this a unique, intriguing and thoroughly modern pattern. Now that it's finished, I have a mental note to try this one again, in a different yarn on a different gauge.

Cloud Nine

Somebody around here is walking around on Cloud Nine....rightfully so! Go buy the New York Times on Sunday and see for yourselves!

No Yarn for Me!

photo by Sara MacKenzie

Ah, Rhinebeck!! Annual pilgrimage to fiber Mecca. What a fun weekend!

The weather did not deter us one bit. In fact, it was far better than the dire predictions we heard the days leading up to the Great Friday Escape. I don't know if it was these same predictions that made the crowds feel just a bit thinner on Saturday, but on Sunday the light drizzle did keep shoppers at home.

My high point came at dinner on Friday night. A dinner dominated by hearty laughter, hilarious story telling, and good food. It's soul food, and it's been seriously lacking in my life this past year.

Earlier in the week I came to a major decision, one that will shape my actions in the next few months. That decision lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. New optimism and eagerness, gathering with friends who share a common passion. Oh yea. I've seriously missed laughter. What a year.

After a hearty breakfast on Saturday we were off to conquer the fleece!! Oh the fleece!! This year's highlight sheep breed, Leicester Longwool has a beautiful long curly fleece and I fell in love. The sheep are handsome, aren't they? They have an interesting history in America - these are the sheep George Washington and Thomas Jefferson imported from England. They are the sheep you see if you visit Colonial Williamsburg, and are considered a rare breed in America and England today.

I found the most adorable little fleece from a ewe lamb named Sarah, and decided this would be my first foray into processing fleece to yarn to shawl!! I am so psyched - tomorrow is Saturday and I'm ready to scour! It's lovely and I can't wait to show you the process.

We were lucky to get a quick demonstration on how to use combs to separate the long fibers from the short and now I am on a quest to find the perfect combs. This little fleece has a lovely luster and will work really well combed out.

I met a bunch of people (and forgot to photograph them, of course). I met sheep and goats (and did remember to photograph them!). I learned how to spin Cashmere which comes from stinky devilish goats like Duke, this handsome guy. He's gorgeous. Mmm, black cashmere.

We ran into friends from last year and well, I might have been wearing a few handspun and handknited items on Saturday and got Busted! (scroll down, but don't forget to read the blog entry - it's super entertaining) by Ann and Kay. Ahem. It was cold, girlfriends! And of course, the Ravelry party. There's nothing better than the gourmet combination of beer and cupcakes when gathering with a bunch of yarn crazed knitters.

The exhaustion got to us and we departed early but not before meeting some lovely knitters from Montreal and learning about the yarn stores in their hometown.

photos by Sara MacKenzie

Sunday morning four of us arrived to the Fairgrounds bright and early for a spinning workshop - we got to play with Cashmere, Camel, Yak and all manner of fine, downy fibers. It was challenging, and you can see I am perplexed by the long draw.

photo by Sara MacKenzie

Of course, we shopped. Some of us more than others. I'm looking at you, Sara! But seeing this haul it's hard to believe I bought not one skein of yarn! Fibers yes. Fleece, yes. Just no finished yarn!

I'll show you the stash as I spin it up. There's lots of fibery goodness in there.

Thanks to my good peeps for such a fun time. I can't wait to do it all over again next year.

Knit Quickie

Not alot of knitting nor spinning going on at the moment. It's weird. I am super excited about Rhinebeck, but I can't seem to get my ass to finish the bobbins I've loaded up, nor what's on the needles.

In an intense fit of organizing and cataloging, I finally got around to taking individual pictures of my obscene yarn stash and loading them up on Ravelry. It took hours. No wonder I've been putting it off. But now that I can SEE what I have, I am embarrassed. And it's making me think very hard about buying more yarn. Or not. There's enough there to keep me amused for awhile and I need to justify the splurges by actually doing something with it. Or sell it.

I needed a gift for a little after-work gathering this week and decided to knit up something fast and for once USE the yarn in my stash for Pete's sake! That's how this little scarf called Bainbridge came to be. Fellow New Yorker MintyFresh designed it as an adaptation of a friend's scarf, so named for the street in Philly where the friend picked it up. I had fun knitting this and might have finished it in about 3.5 hours. That's what I'm talking about!

The yarn - Filatura di Crosa Zara - is a bit odd. While knitting, it felt a bit 'spongy'. Reading the ball band revealed it's a superwash yarn. After a short soak and blocking, the yarn relaxed completely. Do all superwash yarns do that? I'm glad it did, because I like the drape now.

The only modification I made was to cast on an extra 20 stitches, which meant I ran out of yarn while kitting up the ties. Ah well, it allowed me to dip into the stash for another color. Call it a design element. It makes for a sedate little neckwarmer.

Which seems to align with how I am thinking and feeling at the moment. All serious and sedate. I just want a little more road in front of me so I can navigate the twists and turns. We'll see if that happens.

Sheep in the City!

Spotted on my way to an appointment this morning, grazing in the median on Park Avenue near 53rd Street.

And of course, Central Park has the Sheep Meadow...

So you see, New York City remains close to it's farm roots.

Sky Bandit

I mentioned there's a shawl on the needles and for now, it's simmering on a back burner. I might some knitterly and fashionista type input from you all.

This is Springtime Bandit, so named Sky Bandit because of the blue yarn. When I bought this yarn, Schulana Merino Cotton 135, I debated over this light blue and a lovely silvery gray. In a fit of wanting more blue in my life, I chose the blue.

Being totally inspired by brokeknits who has been on quite a shawl rampage this year (how many Bandits, Katie?) I realized I needed one too. A simple lace pattern in a larger than lace gauge yarn. Though not quite as chunky as the pattern yarn. With yarn and needles in hand, I took off into the wild blue yonder.

The first hint of trouble was when PhotoMan asked me who was having a baby. Then on the subway one evening with my iPod glued into my ears a lady asked me if I was knitting a baby sweater. Hmmm. So not SKY Bandit, more like GOO-GOO-GA-GA Bandit.

With the courage of my convictions, I knit on. At the end of the fourth repeat in the body section, I did a mental calculation to double the body to eight repeats, why not, I hadn't even broken into the second skein! I got to the end of the eight repeats and then realized there's not enough yarn for the edge section. Ooops.

So I ripped back to the end of the seventh repeat and forged on with the edge. Only to run out of yarn 4 rows from the end. Argh. Much as I like the yarn, I don't think I want to buy another skein to complete four rows! And now that it's this size, I can see that this thing has some heft. Here is the law of unintended consequences at work. The cotton in the yarn might be adding some heft to the shawl.

While it simmers I have time to ask all of you some questions:

1. Does the color remind you of baby blankets? Should I overdye this and aim for a smokey gray/blue? Never mind that I have limited dyeing experience...

2. Is there a fine balance one needs to consider when knitting lace? Does it matter if the ratio of body repeats to edge repeats is around 8:1?

The pattern shifts from a diamond/leafy repeat to these fluted thingies.

3. Seeing as I need to rip this thing back to reduce the body section, what is the stopping point? Six repeats? Five? And then do I just make one repeat of the Edge or do I cast caution to the wind and try for two?

4. Does any of this even matter? Is the old Knithound overthinking things (again)?!

Have at it, readers. I can handle it.

Hunter Valley

Before I launch into another yarn story I want to thank you all for your lovely comments and encouragement. I try to answer everyone individually but sometimes the commenters are not linked to email so I can never be sure if the replies get sent! I really do appreciate you coming and visiting me and the comments make me feel great, so thanks again!

More fibery goodness - this one another 3 ply, the colors of which make my heart sing. My Mother might have expressed serious interest in this one, too. A hint that maybe she wants to see a pair of mitts like mine...hmmmm?

This is Hunter Valley, Merino Top, a generous gift from David at SCF. I love Merino! So soft and a nice bounce to the yarn. I want more Merino in my future. There are some tiny technical issues but I will not go into them here. My Ravelry support group has convinced me to ignore any imperfections and just knit with the yarn, dammit.

This 3 ply thing, it's got my attention big time. I have found a niche and I want to explore every nook and cranny.

Being Completely Enchanted

Whew! Three hours of shooting, uploading, labeling and cataloging into Ravelry and on Flickr and I have made a dent in the photo documentation backlog that looms over me forever and a day.

The project I am most excited about these days is this little number, these fingerless mitts. I got totally inspired and a bit envious when the Rooster made her fingerless mitts with her Five Plum Pie yarn. I may have drooled over my laptop upon seeing them all done up. And so I took to my needles and decided the Enchanted 3 ply yarn from SCF was the perfect tonic to ease my serious case of WANT.

Two evenings of knitterly focus and I have something I think I can wear proudly at Rhinebeck this year. I adapted the Toast pattern by Leslie to add a gusset thumb because I like the fit better. And instead of a curled edge, I added a few rows of garter. All in all, a WIN project.

Sunday Update With Lame-o Photos :(

It's a cop out not to have lots of great photographs to tell my stories, especially today, when I have several knitting and spinning updates. For me, making the photographs for this blog is the hardest part of the whole process. I have a simple P&S and get frustrated with the macro (lack of).

Most of the time I don't think my photos do my work justice. Coming up with unique and wonderful ways to show it is a challenge. I live in essentially a brownstone wreck. Long, narrow, dark and in a constant state of mess. The back yard is also work in progress (Yes, Marie we are going to move forward just as soon as we can!) and full of mosquitoes. Me and mosquitoes - not so good. I'm too sweet I suppose! Heh.

Well anyway, so just a few teaser shots today.

It's been busy around here as I finished up a pair of socks intended for the photographer. I know what you're thinking: why not enlist him to shoot the knitting and spinning? Well, sometimes I do, when he has the time!

Anyway the socks are wonderful. I used a yarn from my stash, and chose a pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks, and the combination worked out great. I mentioned my intention to knit all the patterns from that book and I'm glad I set this as a goal. Loving the patterns in this book. They're almost finished blocking, so next week we can do some on the feet shots.

In addition to the socks I'm working on a stealth project, a gift for a friend. She's been waiting patiently in the wings for awhile now, and I finally found a yarn I love (I hope she does, too!) and a pattern that really works so I am happy with how it's coming along. You won't be able to see this one till it's been sent out, but it's a doozy.

I started a Spingtime Bandit shawl using yarn I picked up from my LYS a few weeks ago. At first it was all gung-ho, but then I started to have mixed feelings about the yarn choice. More specifically the color choice. I'll try to get my act together on this one next weekend because I want to get your opinions on several aspects of this project before I rush off and make changes. However, there's really no hurry. You see, this WAS the project I originally intended as the stealthy gift, but because of those second thoughts, I stopped into another LYS, found the yarn/pattern combination that's on the needles now and I am quite pleased.

That big cabled yoke cardigan I started nearly a year ago is at the seaming stage. Oh, I might have seamed it up...ummmm...three times now. Yea, three. Yea, I can be a huge dope. Yea I make dopey mistakes. All of which caused me to lose some steam on it. Can you blame me?

But seeing it spread out on the dining room table is giving me big time guilts and with Rhinebeck around the corner I might find the mojo to throttle on through and finish this sucker. I really want to because there are so many other big sweater projects I am itching to start and I refuse to do it till this one is done.

Those are the knitting projects in the foreground for now. I try to keep it to three or else I find myself feeling very scatter-brained. Some of the unfinished projects are now officially in the hibernating stage but one of these, the humongo garter stitch blanket has to come back into the forefront because I feel the need to give a healing gift.

There's yarnmaking too. Surprise surprise. I made a 3 ply yarn using this combed merino top and learned I need to be much more consistent with my singles if I want to avoid major tangles. Oy, what fun that was, but that's a story for another time.

I made some nice looking bulky singles, using Spunky Eclectic's Selfish from June club and from what I can see, it will be wonderful. I threw this fiber onto the wheel last night and just wanted to loosen up with a nice bulky yarn. Originally destined to be a two ply, I loved the look of the singles enough to keep them. The entire bump took me about 3 hours start to finish. What fun.

Next up I started some Jacob roving I've had marinating since late May. This one is my long draw lesson. I'm halfway through it and I'd say while it got easier as I progressed, I need lots more practice. I'm sure it will ply up just fine for a very rustic looking yarn and there's nothing wrong with that. Very rustic. And the natural coloring of the roving is a nice respite from all the wild colors of the club fibers.

I think I will put some energy into finding more rovings like this Jacob at Rhinebeck. I'd like to make a sweater using a natural colored fiber, spun woolen 3 ply. (FLEECE??) That's what's on my needles, my wheel and my mind right now. Have a great week everyone!

Redbone with Shawl

Lola, oh Lola. My beautiful, intelligent, stoic, photogenic Redbone Coonhound. I realized not long ago that for some reason I have never posted any stories about Lola, and that's something I want to fix right now.

It might be because she is just so complex. Lola is a fine wine. Deep, layered, nuanced. While Rudy is a beer. Straight forward, unambiguous, what you see is what you get. And with Lola we have many stories to tell, some of them are downright scary, some are hilarious. Where to begin?

She's nearly 10 years old now, and we are so lucky she's still around. You see, one of Lola's really bad habits is to GOBBLE. Not CHEW, but GULP foreign objects. This dog has an unnatural fetish for sticks, rubber dog toys, rawhide treats, bones, tennis balls, you name it. And when she gets her jaws on one of these things clamps down hard, refuses to let go and ultimately swallows the object nearly whole. Which has led us to the Emergency Room at Animal Medical Center (translate: VERY EXPENSIVE) four times.

Surgery #3 in 2006 was particularly harrowing. Seems she chomped on a beef rib bone, which splintered and got stuck somewhere along the lower intestine which then punctured it in several places. This dog was seriously ill by the time we transferred her from our local vet office (where she had been under observation for several days after we arrived home on a Wednesday night to a horrendous mess of blood, vomit and you don't want to know what else). When they called me that Friday night to say they did not like the direction she was headed, they were not in a position to care for her, as they are not a 24 hour enterprise, and something terrible could go wrong in the wee hours of the night, I knew we had trouble. I didn't know how big it was and really there was no time to ponder.

The entire ride through Brooklyn and up to AMC on the Upper East Side, she was so calm, so patient, watching out the window at the passing world, not a whimper or a sigh. When we arrived, told them in a rush of words -- our regular vet urged us to come here are her x-rays we think she is in bad shape please please save our dog. These doctors took one look and whisked her off to emergency surgery. Even before we gave permission they were prepping her.

Around 5AM the next morning we got a phone call that she was out of surgery, they'd removed over 12" of small intestine, and she was in a very precarious place. Though she was past the surgery, she had been arrhythmic the night before, causing great strain on her heart and other organs, and the intestinal punctures had made her septic. The surgery was the beginning, not the end and she was a very sick girl with quite a few obstacles to overcome on the road to recovery. The next four days were super tense, because if the sutures burst, there was no saving her. We were absolutely beside ourselves with fear. Every time the phone rang we jumped out of our skin.

But this dog is a survivor. She came home from that event with a tube coming out of her stomach and very weak. People stared at us when we took her down to the sidewalk to pee. All bandaged up, tube dangling, she was a complete mess! Slowly she recovered, but not before she ripped the tube out and chewed the little end thingy. And that meant another trip to the ER for removal via the esophagus. Can you believe the determination?! She is single-minded that's certain.

Which is one of the things I truly adore about her. Though her determination is misguided, it is pure. It is a hallmark quality of Coonhounds to be this focused. Lola is also determidly focused on being warm and cozy. She loves nothing more than to curl up on the sofa with a blanket tucked around her. She hates being wet and when it rains she will refuse to go out, preferring to hold it as long as possible.

She may not have the correct conformation for a Redbone, all spindly in the legs and out of proportion to her body, still she's a beauty. It's the look in her eye, her gorgeous mahogany coloring, and her melodious (loud) howl that simply melt my heart.

Lola's communication skills are highly developed. She tells you exactly what she wants by pointing, darting her eyes back and forth and using her head and nose to literally guide your hand to the object of desire. On top of that, she also makes these yowly, gurgle sounds that I swear, she is as close to talking as any dog I've known. It is truly amazing.

Lola is on a first name basis with the doctors at AMC, and we are lucky to live in a place with access to such high quality medical resources. They took such good care of her during that event and since then, another surgery (I told you she was relentless... but that's for another time).


Okay, enough. This is a knitting blog, after all. I asked the resident photographer to take the shots you see here because I thought the mini shawl looked nice on her. And much as she told me she really likes it, I think I will keep this one for myself! Last night I posted these shots to my Flickr and generated a mini whirlwind of response! Thanks, guys! The lesson here is I may need to shamelessly use my dogs to pimp model my knitting more often! Heh. Seriously, I do love the comments as they motivate me to continue with blogging and Flickr-ing. Such a great community, this knitting and spinning world, I love it!

Now about this project. The yarn started as hand dyed Wensleydale from Spunky Eclectic, purchased at the MASW in May. I had so much fun at that little festival, entirely because I got to meet Amy and Adrian in person and I might have been a bit in awe of them, my admiration is that huge!

I spun it up over the summer and learned that I truly love working with the long wools. It's a 2 ply yarn, fingering weight, with 4 oz. yielding around 318 yards.

The pattern is from the talented Kristin Kapur, called Lavalette, and another project tied to raising money for a really good cause, funding research in Alzheimer's Disease. I knit this little shawl intent on using up all the yarn. I used #4 needles because I wanted a denser stockinette section. I was amazed at how nicely the yarn striped up. And you all know how much I love stripes.

As I was working the final lace section I got a bit spooked about running short on the yarn so I omitted the last two repeats of the section. As it turns out, I have some yarn left over, and the shawl is not huge, but it makes a lovely neckwrap and will fold nicely under a coat collar. These colors are well suited to many things in my wardrobe so I predict lots of use in the coming months. It's why I traded a Milk Bone with Lola to keep it for myself!

Knitting with hand spun yarn is fun. My collection has grown to the point that I seriously need to work up some projects. Or sell some??