just another raveller

I finished my first Felicity hat. And Helen, I'm definitely going to knit another soon, maybe one to match these mittens: But back to the hat. Here are a couple of modelling shots . The back is really the nicest part: I tacked down the lining and pressed the edge. Next time, I'll try to make a sharper fold and I'll try it with few stitches, maybe 140. This one holds to the head OKAY. In fact, it's pretty good if you're afraid of mussing up your hair, but it could be a little tighter. So, where do the cats go? To the Cat Maze, of course! Most cats are happy enough to stay indoors in winter, snoozing in a warm spot. They might occasionally wander out onto a porch for a few minutes but they soon want to come back in. This is the third annual Cat Maze in my daughter's back yard. It starts out small, but if she keeps it up, the walls get really high. Her two cats actually use it to take walks. It's nice at night too:

I really like visiting Montreal. I end up walking a lot, which I enjoy, and there's a lot to look at. A few days ago, I took a trip to Chez Mouliné Yarns on Notre Dame West. It's a large store. They had a nice selection of yarns including a nice selection of Handmaiden and Malabrigo. There's a very good sale at the moment so I picked up a few skeins of the former and the latter and put them away in my suitcase. In a walking city where the average low temperature in winter ranges from 10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F), you really need a good hat. I've been working on a modified version of the Felicity hat for my daughter. Here's the pdf link to the free pattern . I'm making it out of sock yarn. I started by casting on 150 stitches. My gauge is about 7 stitches per inch on a 2.5 mm needle. I knit a tube 5.5 inches in length. This serves as the hat's lining, or hem to keep your ears warm under the hat itself. Then I did a picot edge to make a nice fold and began knittin...

I'm up in Montreal for a family emergency. I'm staying in a house with moths that are only kinda, sorta under control. Wah! I thought it wise only to bring sock yarn to knit with. I'm finishing the toe on the first pair now - it will go as a thank you gift. It's fun to be back in Montreal though. I lived here for almost 20 years. If only I could get out of the house! Nevermind. Will do so soon! I hope to visit the sale at Chez Mouliné. Best wishes and happy holidays to everyone!

I'm just re-posting, not adding anything new, but isn't this exciting? What am I talking about? The Twist Collective article on the re-discovered Elizabeth Zimmermann Green Sweater . The article is written by the person who discovered and reconstructed the cardigan. The interesting thing about this cardigan is that instead of having the decreases for the sleeve hidden underneath the arm, their right out on top. Looking at the pictures, you can recognize various EZ techniques, but the sleeve decreases are new. A gift from the past from a great knitter. Once you've digested that, you can read more on Meg Swansen's (EZ's daughter's) newsletter no. 9. and order the pattern. On Ravelry, the discussion has begun on the Zimmermaniacs group. Of course, there's a knit-a-long too. Gotta go read. Just discovered my nephew's blog...

You may remember, or not, that I have been experimenting with various new vehicles for reading. I feel it's my duty, somehow. I tried listening to people with the wrong accents read 19th English century literature aloud to me from Librivox. At a minimum, I need Alistair Cooke for that. I tried reading daily installments of The Pickwick Papers via email from DailyLit (I quit after 4 installments) and most recently I tried reading the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on a cast-off, first generation Kindle. I got through it, but wah! Thumbs down to all these. Now, DailyLit Style is tempting me again with Shoes, Bags and Tiaras from V&A Publishing. Yes, I have signed up to read about fashion by email. Immediately afterwards, librarian that I am, I googled around to find out more about the actual book that I thought these installments would be based on. Couldn't find it by title. Let's try by publisher: V&A publishers. There they are, but no Shoes, Ba...

Here in Western New York, the Fall season has been very colourful. The reds and yellows have been brilliant. There has been lots of sun and warmth too. I was down in and around Naples, New York today and the temperature reached nearly 18 C/ 68 F. There was hardly a breath of wind on Lake Canandaigua this morning. Despite all this loveliness and light, I find myself working on three brown projects. First, and I just finished this one yesterday, is an Aestlight. I loved the first one I knit two weeks ago so much that I had to knit another. The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in a very chocolatey shade. These photos show the final edging being attached. I think I'll be wearing this a lot. My second brown project is the Woolie Jacket that had my elbows aching on the plane ride from England. Here's the pattern picture. I'm a bit nervous about that pouffy part that you see sticking out from behind her elbow. The biggest piece of knitting in this pattern is the back. You knit an extra 7 i...

I recently finished knitting Shetland Trader's Aestlight . I stranded a very fine pale grey merino with a green mohair. The result is very warm, definitely set to embellish a winter coat, maybe one of those "not quite warm enough" coats. I took it outside for a few nature shots. Posting about this makes me want to immediately knit another one in a more "indoor" kind of yarn, something soft and smooth. Hmmmm... Meanwhile, I have started a few other warm projects, including a long cosy vest for my aunt. I'm starting at the bottom, making it up as I go along and I've already had to rip out and go back to the drawing board once. I tried to combine 2 stitches side by side but the row gauge didn't match up. It gave me another idea. I'm off to knit now...

A lot has happened in the past month. Just in time for what seems to have become an annual vacation in the Northumberland countryside, I finished a cardigan out of Lett Lopi (aka Lopi Lite), a good, warm yarn that I bought on my Spring trip to Iceland. I'm working up to knitting one out of the less commercial, less processed Plötulopi from Þingborg. Anyway, the pattern for this yoke cardi, which I can honestly say that I have worn every day for the last 2 weeks without fail, is based on the Elizabeth Zimmerman percentage method, in which everything develops from one initial measurement. I knit and re-knit the collar a couple of times. I like its hugeness. It feels like two big rhubarb leaves hanging around my neck. The colours are a little uninspiring and the pale blue does in the Hawser motif kind make me feel that I'm wrapped in hyphens. Never mind. This cardigan has been doing what it was meant to - keep me warm on walks high and low. Walks high and low there were - on the b...

The red sweater has been pronounced lovely in several venues now and has been claimed by my younger sister Frances for her Xmas present. I've gotten over it not suiting me. As you get older, it seems that what suited you in the past, no longer suits you and you've got to get used to a new set of colours. This is particularly upsetting for us hard headed types. While at the Finger Lakes Fibre Fest this weekend, I could be seen repeatedly holding skeins up to my face and asking nearby browsers for their opinion. In this way, I learned that others think that teal looks good on me now and coral does not. D-mn. Nor does the purpley blue of the Pine Tree Palatine , alas. Western New Yorkers take note: Jeannine Sims is taking names to knit with Galina Khmeleva here in Rochester on April 18th, 2009. You can contact her through the Rochester Knitting Guild. I must finish with the Pine Tree by then if I'm to hold my head up in April. So, I've been consoling my self for the past w...

It all started with a glimpse of a coral coloured swing jacket hanging in the LYS. I fell in love with the colour. I'd been wanting to knit a swing jacket for some time. I had to knit it. Knit what? Noro Design 15 by Jenny Watson . I'm not one of these brave bloggers who is able to post about their sweater knitting every step of the way. I don't have good luck with sweaters. This morning, my sister even suggested that I should stick to lace shawls, and perhaps the odd shardigan. Shardigan? Google it. 'Nuff said. I finished knitting this last week. I almost didn't blog about it at all, but I've decided it's not a total loss. It does fit and feels good. The worst thing is that the colour doesn't suit me. Not at all. I made a lot of mods to the pattern. First off, I made it longer than called for. I saw someone wearing it and decided it was just too short. I used a solid yarn rather than the variegated Noro called for by the pattern. I decided alternate ...

Thank you Practical Katie for the vintage mags! Imagine going into a thrift store and finding those! Now I hear that my Dad is driving around Ottawa with a trunkful of his wife's old knitting magazines for me. Don't throw them out, Dad! Ask Frances to hold on to them for me, please. Mary Lou, I have to confess that I had to look Adam Ant up on wikipedia. For some reason my mind draws a big blank on the late seventies and early eighties, just when I should have been most attuned to popular culture. My recollection of girdles is limited to a vague memory of envying our friend Charlotte who had one in the early sixties. We used to get dresses handed down from her and I was always hoping we'd get the girdle. What can I say, I was only about 6.

I opened the mail today and found these four beauties in a plain brown envelope, sender anonymous: What fun! Sunglasses and slouching seem to go hand in hand: They were pushing plaid on the knitting public as long as 51 years ago: It's amazing how thin people were and how they constricted their figures: And not just women. This pullover looks very stiff: I've nothing of my own knitting to show right now. I'm halfway through my second Double Diamond Border Scarf (Victorian Knitting Today). I keeping wondering why I'm not experimenting with the technique in a different border pattern. It's a gift and it was supposed to be knit in black yarn. On closer inspection, six inches into the pattern, the yarn revealed itself to be a very dark navy. That's fine. This way I'll avoid Mary Lou's curse of the black shawl I'm also nearing the end of a swing jacket which just may be my biggest mistake in years. I'll let you know how it turns out. Not much hope. P...