just another raveller

Everything on this plate was spectacular and delicious, given to me by a friend. Still have chocolate and shortbread up the wazoo. And, there was enough yarn for the vest except for the armbands which I did in a complementary colour of Heilo. Now I will get on to finishing the Warm Orenberg shawl I've been working on for some months.

Sweater body found in back of cupboard was probably thrust there in disgust during past Xmas frenzy. There isn't enough yarn even to finish a sleeveless pullover. If I could find some yarn that will blend with this, I could do a fair isle pattern across the chest and use the last of the King Cole Merino Blend DK on the shoulders. It's superwash. What would do? Heilo, er, help?

I'm so excited! I've just had a windfall. I was feeling around in the back of a cupboard this evening and came up with a half finished adult sized sweater body knit in the round up to the armholes. King Cole Merino DK. Knit, knit, knit...yay! I pretend not to do Xmas knitting, but I think it's just a ruse to prevent myself from getting into a state of frustration and last minute frenzy.

I haven't written here since the beginning of November. So hard to get near the computer at home, but I'm off for the day and I have the time to write and knit. Hooray! The (Maximalist) Minimalist Cardigan lies in a heap on the ironing board. It is finished. Blocked, sewn and ironed. I am still in the denial phase. I'm telling myself that maybe it doesn't fit because I accidentally knit one size too big. This is true. But maybe it's because I didn't set the sleeves in right...or, it just occurred to me now - maybe I knit the back in one size and the fronts in a smaller size! No. I can't bear it. This will have to be a story for another day. After the sweater disaster, I got down to knitting hats for our guild's community knitting effort. I had promised to knit some small hats in dark colours so gosh darn it, that's what I did. I knit two plain tuques in black Cascade 220, all the while thinking about Jared Flood''s (cool-ass) Koolhaas Hat ...

Made some progress this week. Cleaned out a couple of closets and photographed the yarns I had stashed away there. I threw out all remaining plastic bags and organized and repacked the yarn in cloth carrying bags with pillowcase covers. I realize now that I am a hoarder. I'm not a collector. Nor am I a reasonable garden variety knitter who has some bags of odd skeins and unfinished sweaters and a few sets of skeins puchased at sales all of which will be duly used in projects. No, not me. I had skeins and skeins hoarded away in multiple corners and containers, like a squirrel hoards nuts. I had only a hazy recollection of the actual yarn wedged into the spaces between boxes of off season clothing and laundry. Yikes! There is yarn that I have purchased and yarn that previously belonged to my mother, my sister, my aunt and my grandmother, not to mention friends and neighbours. There is yarn from unravelled Sally Ann sweaters. I have yet to catalog the yarn in the attic, in the yarn bi...

I never said I would be good at keeping up with this, but here's an update. I have recently completed the Wildebeest and am stalled on the Mark II. Wildebeest is a lovely shawl. I finished it with a simple black scalloped edging of Mission Falls 1824 Wool. I was pleased with the way this yarn blocked around some pretty pointy corners and with the way it blended with the Di.Ve Autunno that I used for the coloured center. Definitely one to wear outside the house. The Mark II is another matter. I keep worrying that I'm going to come upon another weakness in the yarn. When I'm coming near the end of a skein, I keep asking myself when I should just give up on it and start a new one. I've finished the back - 22 inches from underarm to hem and am halfway up the fronts. I think I'll keep at it because I still have an encouraging image in my mind of how it will look when it's finished. The gauge and width are working out nicely but I need to start something else. Somethi...

This is an adaptation of The Breton Jacket (IK Fall 2006, page 104). I'm using a sport weight yarn - Brunswick Yarns Pomfret Mark II in the Blue Ridge Heather colourway. I'm getting a gauge of 6 stitches to the inch on 3.75 mm (US 5) needles. This is from an old batch of yarn that was stashed in a cedar attic for many years by a woman who ran a yarn shop many years ago in a distant state. The yarn is probably 25 years old or more. Because it was so carefully kept, it seems to be in pretty good shape. Knock on wood. Puts me in mind of a pair of sheepskin ankle boots I wore to work once. On the return trip, coming up the stairs at the Verdun Avenue Metro with the rush hour crowd, the smell of wet wool in the air, my feet began to feel very odd. After the first flight, I switched to the escalator and peeked at my foot. Panic set in. I could distinctly see my sock in an unexpected gap between the sole and the upper. Erp! This was a pair of boots my mother bought probably twenty yea...

I can't say how much I'm enjoying this knit - it's perfect. I'm using up a motley crew of skeins of Dive Autunno bought on a deep, deep sale and improvising a pattern from Sharon Miller's new book on hap shawls - Shetland Hap Shawls ~ Then & Now I love the way it looks and feels. The colours aren't quite right here. It's less yellow in reality.... The first photo shows its contruction. I started by knitting the black triangle. I used one ball of Mission Falls 1824 wool, ending up with 72 stitches along the top. Leaving those stitches on the needle, I cast on 72 stitches down each of the other two sides of the triangle using my Dive Autunno, a gloriously soft and pliant wool, and knit two wings in Old Shell stitch, following a chart in Miller's book. When I ran out the the Autunno, I wet and blocked it having added some extra needles so that I could stretch it out properly. Phew! The centre back seams fit together nicely. Tucked in the loose ends and...

What fun! Spent yesterday at the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock New York, babysitting The Biggest Sock in the World. Here's where it all started: http://big-sock.blogspot.com/ This is a real crowd pleaser. People just loved knitting on it. We had knitters of all ages: a husband and wife team, mothers with children tennagers, new knitters - everyone. The goal is to get it into the Guinness Book of World Records. It has 11 sets of needles and 1500 stitches, well, maybe a few more since we had at it yesterday! Hopefully it will go all around the world and come back to its starting place in England. It has been in Rochester, NY and Atlanta, Georgia. While in the US we have been using a lot of Red Heart and Fun Fur type yarns to give the cuff a kind of festive look. Very soon we will mail it to Toronto, Canada. It will be interesting to see if others will try to incorporate a more controlled pattern to make their section stand out or whether they will continue as we have - just u...

I stopped to take a picture of the sign. It was a old yarn shop sign hung high on the side of a tidy white clapboard building deep in the countryside. I had noticed it several times in the past. I had my camera with me and stopped to take a snap. The sign was a bit worse for wear and I never imagined that the shop might still be operational. I spotted some colourful knitting draped over a hobby horse by the door and approached. I realized there was actually someone in the shop, moving toward the door. I totally missed the "OPEN" sign in the window. I'm sorry to say that I can't remember her name although we chatted for some time. She told me she was 93 and knits bags for a man in a neighbouring state who felts them for sale. I purchased a set of needles and several patterns from her including the sock book that I'll post about later. A blanket knitted by her sister was neatly folded over a rollaway bed. The yarn that was displayed on the shelves around the room wa...

The Cobweb Crepe hap is lying in a heap on the spare bed, waiting to be be blocked and have its ends tucked in. I've hauled out another old project - a top down raglan pullover of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in yes - greeny yellow. Sigh. I really like it though. It has three quarter length sleeves ending in Barbara Abbey's Herringbone Lace stitch. The hem is also done in that stitch. I've finished the body and am about to cast off the hem of the first sleeve. If I keep at it, I'll be finished this weekend and have the hap blocked too. We'll see. I'll be working in the garden tomorrow, digging a new flower bed. That may finish me off. I think that Ravelry is actually making me knit more. It makes me account for things. I've been dragging yarn and unfinished projects out of forgotten places and getting on with things. Also, I admit that the idea of an audience, real or imagined has an effect on me. So there.

Looking through my projects page, I see yellow and blue, some green and purple but then yellow again! These colours are not so far off from the ones I say I like, but I wouldn't have guessed that there would be so much yellow. The large amount of purple can be accounted for by my Auntie Margaret's stash, which she gave to me, but the yellow, it's all been purchased! It does seem funny when you put it all together in Ravelry. Somehow, I want it to look different, richer, with less yellow. Foo. What will I knit next next? ...omg, I've been asked to knit a scarf in orange, pink, green or white! Note to self: Must work on photography skills and avoid posting yellow and purple knits for a while - exception to be made for fantastic rainbow blankie. Make said scarf, but avoid posting, unless looks fantastic. Reconsider priorities.

...well, I am, but I never meant to. Honestly. God knows there is enough writing in this world without my blather. I'm just trying this out to see how it fits into my Ravelry notebook. Yeah, yeah... Anyway, it looks like I'm in the final stretch with my Cobweb Crepe Shawl...I'm very proud that I'm hanging in there and not stuffing into a bag. I should be done with the edging sometime this week. Really, truly...