Single Skein September

I'm a big fan of Stash & Burn, the podcast hosted by Jenny and Nicole. While the original premise of the podcast was all things stash-related, they have branched out into interviews and really useful content about knitting, while stash remains a unifying motif. I listen to quite a few knitting podcasts, and I think theirs is among the most substantive, while still not taking themselves too seriously. Their episode about modifying patterns, for example, is a must-listen for all sweater knitters. Jenny and Nicole have a wonderful rapport, and listening to them is like having two passionate, knowledgeable knitters joining your knitting group. And really, any podcast that uses Sleater-Kinney for their theme song is for me.

Recently, they have announced a stash burning contest, encouraging listeners to knit up those single skeins in their stash. While I am not much for entering contests, I have been inspired to make dub next month Single Skein September. There are a bunch of single-skein projects ready in the stash, and because my sock-knitting keeps bumping them from the top of the to-knit list, I'll be taking a month-long hiatus from knitting socks and making my small, portable projects things like hats, mittens, scarves, etc. As I have said before, I am not overly stressed about my stash and its size or content, but sometimes, I like giving myself a framework with which to choose projects. I've wanted to knit a beret and a pair of Fetchings for quite some time, and that time is now!

Luckily, I finished this pair of socks just in time!


Pattern: Roza's Socks by Grumperina, IK Spring 2007
Yarn & Needles: Fleece Artist Sea Wool (Thanks, Ann!), US2
Mods: None
Notes: While I don't think this was the perfect pairing of yarn and pattern, I am pleased with these socks. The brioche rib is super-stretchy, and combined with the thicker yarn and larger needle, I ended up with socks that are a little too loose. I do, however, love this yarn and love this pattern. The pattern is super-speedy and simple, and the yarn is just smashingly squishy and soft. The colors are intense and luscious, all deep roses and light browns. You'll see me using both this yarn and pattern again, just likely not in this combination.

That's the last pair of socks you're likely to see around here for a little while, except maybe a one-skein leftover pair for the Rosebud. Care to join me for Single Skein September? Care to share your favorite single skein projects? Leave a comment!

The Ant and the Grasshopper

At some point in my childhood, I was traumatized by Aesop's fable of The Ant and The Grasshopper. The grasshopper, after singing beautifully all summer while the ant worked, dies in front of the closed door of the ant in the midst of a winter freeze. The ant and his friends party inside -- warm, dry, and full of food from the summer and fall harvest.

I was not a fan of the ending. Why was the grasshopper so bad? Couldn't that ant find the compassion to slip some grains of wheat to the desperate musician? Why not invite him in? Who wouldn't want some fiddling throughout the long, dark winter?

In any event, I come to find out ...

I am such an ant. I have started my holiday knitting. I volunteered to produce many knitted things for this year's Holiday Bazaar at RWS and I have plans for many knitted presents -- I don't want to be stuck knitting late into the dark December nights. These stocking ornaments are addicting. I'm using up tons of yarn leftovers and having so much fun trying out different patterns that I may use for full-sized stockings.

Pattern: From Christmas Stockings: Holiday Treasures to Knit, edited by Elaine Lipson
Yarn: Leftover Jamieson Spindrift from these
Needles: US 3s dpn
Notes: Simple, easy, fast, ... addicting

I am also storing, freezing, and otherwise saving lots of the fresh, local, organic produce that we get weekly from our CSA: Amy's Garden. I've got a freezer full of oven-roasted tomatoes and sauce because a winter tomato from the grocery store is just a nasty thing. I've been using this simple, light sauce recipe here (I'm putting the tomatoes through the food mill at least twice).

I'm trying to encourage my inner grasshopper by spending days at the pool, eating fresh peaches, and being lazy in the 95 degree temps. But I might just be knitting Christmas stockings at the same time ...

Rules

I learned to knit as a kid, but I picked up the needles for good in the late summer 6 years ago. The longer I knit, the more I like to discard knitting rules I used to make for myself.

• I used to buy yarn for one project at a time. Now, I stash gleefully and without guilt.
• I used to knit one project at a time. Now I have several WIPs going at once.
• I used to knit one pair of socks at a time, dutifully casting on and finishing the second sock before starting a new pair. Now, I might have two or three pairs going at any time.

Roza's Sock in Fleece Artist Sea Wool, New England Sock in Koigu KPM

I've enjoyed my summer dalliances with both Nancy Bush and the Single Sock Liberation Movement, but its getting in the way of my overall production. The recent cool weather has me hankering for sweaters, shawls, mittens, and hats. And finished pairs of socks. So while I won't be making any more rules, I think I am going to have to renew my focus and get some projects finished.

Kids Can Knit

At various times in my life, usually after I have been feeling grounded and centered for a while, I have a hard time saying "no" to people. I then tend to take on too many responsibilities/obligations and thus lose the aforementioned centeredness and balance. This is usually followed by a period of stress and then much use of the "no" word.

At the beginning of the summer, after the craziness of the end of school died down, I said "yes" to many things. One of which was to teach a knitting class for kids at the pool. I really wanted to help raise some funds for the pool and well, to be honest, I wanted to indoctrinate more children into the world of knitting. You know, assimilate the masses ...

Soon after I committed to doing this, I began to freak out. I couldn't even teach my own children to knit! What on earth will they knit? Who on earth will want to come? What if they hate me? What will I do with my children? What was I thinking? Maybe my previous experience working with children was a fluke and I'm really terrible with children and a horrid misanthrope! I should have said "no!" Augh!

And then about 3 weeks before the class was to begin, I found this book.

Kids Learn to Knit by Lucinda Guy & Francois Hall

I really loved it. I found it here and as far as beginner knitting books for kids go, it's realistic and fun. The instructions are well-illustrated and the projects are simple enough for the children to be successful in a short amount of time. I had 3 sessions. One and a half hours each session.

The Doggie

One child found that she did not like to knit, but she loved fingerknitting and the finishing work of sewing, stuffing, and decorating. I knit most of her doggie for her after she knit two rows. She still had a wonderful time seaming and cutting felt.

The Seal

Another was a great knitter but worried about mistakes. We re-conceptualized her "dog" into a seal and she then realized how these knitting "mistakes" are truly opportunities for individual design elements. She was proud of herself.

The Butterfly

The third girl was an intuitive, talented knitter before she ever came to the class. She knew how to cast on, bind off, knit, and purl. I taught her increasing and decreasing and how to read a basic pattern. She wound yarn by hand and with my swift and winder. When I was using a three way bind off to work on a different project, she rushed to my side to see how to do it. She wanted to know all the different ways to increase and decrease not just the simplest. And when I brought lots of different stash yarn to show them the variety of fibers, she picked up some roving and without thinking, twisted it in her fingers and murmured, "I'm making yarn ..."

The force is strong in this one.

The kicker of it all is that while I was teaching these three very sweet girls, my two girls were helping. I couldn't believe it, but these children who had been bickering, whining, and generally driving me nuts for a good part of the summer were the best little assistants I could have ever wanted. N, who thanks to the wonderful Miss Martha and an excellent Waldorf handwork curriculum, learned to knit two years ago helped to correct mistakes and taught everyone how to fingerknit. R, who has had no interest in knitting previously, began knitting and helped to cut felt and pick out buttons. They were brilliant!

Maybe I should have said "no." But it was a great experience in the end despite my freak out beforehand. In fact, I am feeling quite balanced and grounded about the whole thing ... just in time for the start of school. And you know what the start of school brings: lots of opportunities to say ... "maybe?"

A Fancy Gentleman

Nothing says I love you like a pair of wool socks on a 90 degree day.


Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by my crush, Nancy Bush
Yarn & Needles: Brooks Farm Acero, Everwood colorway
3.0mm needle (US 2.5)
Pattern Mods: I skipped the calf shaping called for in the pattern, and cast on 72 stitches and knit straight from there. The pattern is sufficiently stretchy and fits over Mr S's calves just fine.

Acero is a a new offering from Brooks Farm, the site of my most intemperate purchase at MDSW. I was attracted to the muted, masculine colors of the yarn, and the fact that it was clearly a sport weight sock yarn (Mr S's size 13s only gets sport weight socks). I was also intrigued by the unique fiber content (wool/silk/viscose) and knew that Mr S would love the silky texture and the look of the rustic, manly sock.

I found knitting with the yarn to be a bit splitty on my super-sharp needles, but I got used to it, and the final object is truly worth it. I've read bloggers elsewhere who say that the yarn isn't stretchy enough for socks, but that isn't my experience here. Perhaps I stumbled upon a great combination of pattern and gauge; I'd avoid simple stockinette for sure. I am also curious about how the sock will wear over time. I imagine that the silk and viscose content strengthen the yarn, and there is no evidence of fuzzing on these socks at all.

Mr S gave these socks his seal of approval, and declared them his best-fitting, most comfortable socks yet. The downside of knitting sport weight socks is that is can be hard to fit them into shoes, but these socks fit snugly on his feet and don't feel quite as thick as some of the other socks I have made for him. I have another skein in a more solid acorn brown that was intended for a scarf for him, but perhaps he needs another pair of socks!

Bad Week for Knitting, Good Week for Dogs

I've been neglectful of my knitting. (Is that proper grammar? It sounds a bit wiggy. Anyhoo ...) I've had finished socks sitting around for days just waiting for the ends to be sewn up and my Scarf with No. 20 Border has been sitting in limbo. I've also got false starts for a number of projects just lying around. "Why is that?" you may ask. This is why ...



Our new 8 month old dog, Luna, adopted from GRREAT. Named after this (of course) but also her (she's a brilliant character). My kids named her after her because in a few months we will be adopting a cat to be named Stella. (Aren't they clever children?) I will spare you all the intimate details of how much we love her and how she has fearlessly rid out backyard of those awful pinecones. We're just so happy to have her in our family!



And here's an FO to report as well ...



Pattern: Widdershins by Brooke Chenoweth Creel
Yarn: Austermann Step
Needles: US 1s
Notes: I still love the Widdershins pattern although after reading Nova's post about her toe ups, I'm going to try out Wendy's basic pattern. I used my typical suspended bind off for one of the socks, but then read about the modified Russian bind off. So I used that for the second sock to compare. I love it. I will use this on all my future toe up socks! Why? Because I seem to bind off tightly and because I like a stretchy top to my socks.

I enjoyed knitting with this yarn. I made short socks for myself so that I can get a kid's pair out of the leftovers! They will be wonderful this fall and winter ... Will it ever be cold again? Really?

Meet My Newest Obsession

I know it is terribly trendy to be green nowadays, but this is one trend I can get behind.

Pattern: Elisa's Nest Tote
Yarn and Needles: Euroflax Linen in Ginger coloway, US 9 & US 3 needles

I've recently resolved to use re-usable grocery bags as much as possible (and religiously recycle all the plastic bags we do end up with), and always a sucker for a cute bag, when the Purl Bee posted this little number, I knew it was a great project for me.

Mesh market bags are wonderfully stretchy, with a seemingly infinite capacity, but it is possible to have a market baag that is just too freakin' stretchy. The last one I made (which I use as a beach bag) has a seemingly infinte capacity, but the handles stretch too much and the base of the bag (it's knit in the round) is too unstable. If I put my camera, sunscreen and a water bottle in it, it practically drags through the sand. This bag, knitted flat, has a much stabler bottom (you just fold over a big rectangle to make the bag), and the combination of crocheted seams and i-cord handles tempers the stretchability of the mesh fabric, making to comfortable to carry.

It could definitely use some tweaking, though. It could have been the linen, which I had never used before this project, but my seaming is a little ripply and the places where I picked up stitches for the applied i-cord looks sloppy. It is also a bit small. So I've already started another one (this time in allhemp 6), putting my ideas for small mods in action. I'll keep you posted.

Too Much Potatoes

I love potatoes. I love a baked potato, dripping in butter and Old Bay. I love garlicky mashed potatoes and rosemary roasted potatoes. I love my brother's homemade french fries, and just ask the women in my knitting group how much I love chips and dip.

I love potatoes, but they don't love me.

The Potato sweater is finished, and it is not the most flattering thing I've ever knit. Let's just say it is enhancing a bit of a bulging belly.


Pattern: Tomato by Wendy Bernard. Originally published in No Sheep For You, but available free here.

Yarn & Needles: King Tut Cotton, 3 skeins, US 7 & US 6 needles

This was my first try with King Tut Cotton, and I would definitely use it again. I like it a lot more than Cotton Fleece, which has a bad odor when you wash it, and it is not colorfast. And compared with the Blue Sky cotton called for in the pattern, you can't beat the value.

Pattern Mods: I omitted the colorwork section over the bust, because I think my bust needs no more emphasis than it provides on its own, thank you very much. I made the neckline a little less deep than the pattern calls for because on me, it would have been a little too sexy for the carpool line. I do love the neckline and think it is very flattering.

I experimented with the final length of the sweater until I finally threw up my hands in defeat. I originally knitted it according to the pattern instructions and it was a little too long. It bagged really badly across the back and it just wasn't good. I then shortened it by an inch, and now it feels too short. If I find myself tugging on it as I wear it, or if it rides up a lot, then I will go back and lengthen it again, but I gave up when I realized two things:

1. the back was bagging and the length of the sweater had nothing to do with it. I should have added a few short rows at the bust, but I had no intention of frogging this sweater all the way back to the bust.

2. it wasn't the sweater -- it was my belly.

Now before you send me all matters of e-mails telling me that I am not fat or that I should embrace my curves or whatever, please know that I do not feel bad about myself, and do not value myself based on what my scale says. And my pattern tends to be to put on some weight in the summer, and in the Fall, I get back under control. So let me just say: I do not feel so bad about my belly or my sweater.

See, I've never blogged about it before, but a few years ago, I successfully lost about 30 pounds (which is a lot when you are under 5' tall). I have kept it off, but only with vigilance and a daily commitment to making smart choices about what to eat, and what to avoid. In the meantime, I also managed to work out the typical body issues that so many women seem to be afflicted with, and learned to separate how I feel about myself from how much I weigh.

My main strategy to keep the weight off is to keep my weight within a 5 pound window. And If I am on the low side of the window, great. If I start to creep upwards, I have to pull it together and eat smarter. I would rather fight 5 pounds for the rest of my life than try to lose 30 pounds (or 20 or 40 or whatever) at a time. So right now, I am at the upper end of that 5 pound window, so I know it is time to tighten things up for me. Drink more water. Eat more salads. Eat less ice cream. Pass on the booze a few days a week.

And no more potatoes.

BackBou Exposed and some FOs

So the BackBou was outed this week as the obsessed baker that he is. Those of us in blogland (and those of us who happen to live with him) have known about his alternative lifestyle for a while now, but let me tell you, it's generating some interest in his attorney world of work. Read the Home Style article here. The print edition has some great pictures of the kids helping to make the pizzas.

In addition to working on the lace scarf and some socks (I'm unfortunately not the uber-sock knitter that Tiennie is!), I was able to finish these hats (for my neighbor's new twins) over my vacation.


Pattern: Cabled Greenspun Beanie from Nature Babies by Tara Jon Manning.
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK in Mirage and Sweet (I think, I'm not sure about the names of the colors)
Needles: US 6s

Notes: I really liked Nature Babies. I checked it out from the library and really enjoyed looking through it. I think I'm going to try to make the soft play bloxes to sell at a RWS festival. Or maybe the stitched moon and star toys. Or maybe the flannel star babies. Or maybe some elfin bonnets. Or ...

Setting it Aside

It's not that I didn't knit when we were in Maine, because I did. At night, when the kids were tucked into their beds in the sleeping loft, I would knit on the New England sock as Mr S read. On the plane and on the interstate, I cranked through Potato. I made some significant progress on each; I got through the heel and into the foot on the sock, and I got far enough on Potato that I finished it up this week (and will have the FO to debut this weekend).

But Maine, for me, was about putting aside everything to engage. It is hard to admit this openly, but we all know that knitting can distance you. Like TV or a good book, it can mediate the way you interact with the present, a shield against intimacy with your loved ones. It can be like a giant, flashing neon sign saying, "Leave me alone." Sometimes, I need that flashing neon sign. Sometimes, I need to be left alone, and knitting provides me with some solitude. Sometimes, you really do need to shut up because I really am counting.

But on this trip, I wanted to be alive and awake to my surroundings. I didn't want to miss one call of one loon on our pond. I wanted to hear the leaves rustling, and the sound of the kids playing in the woods. I wanted to watch the fog lift over Cadillac Mountain and hear the sound of our canoe gliding through the waterlillies. There was no TV, no radio, no newspapers or internet or cell phone. It was remote enough that there was no hum of air conditioners, no road noise in the background. (It was also close enough to civilization that is was just down the road from a yarn shop, but that is a post for another day.)

There were moments when I wished I brought my sock. I regretted a few missed photo ops for the blog: the sock on top of the mountain, the sock and a lobster, the sock at the Clam Box and the Great Maine Lumberjack Show.

But then I wonder if I brought the sock to the lobster pound, would I have been too distracted to catch this:

My husband is at his happiest eating lobsters.

Would I have been taking pictures of my sock on top of Cadillac Mountain and missed this:

Rosebud was truly moved by the experience of being on top of a mountain for the first time.

Would I have built this Fairy Bed in the woods with her if I was busy with my sock?

Would I have avoided sticky fingers and gooey kisses to protect the yarn?

So I don't have a lot of knitting to show you, but what I do have is (shhhhh) better.

Back Home Again

We arrived home yesterday after a glorious vacation in Rockport, MA. I had a great visit with Liz and then my extended family, finished a project, went whale watching, and read HP7 once, twice, and then certain chapters over and over and over again ... I have lots to blog about, but first things first ... vacation yarn buying ...

I had determined that I would not visit yarn stores on this trip. Liz had already gifted me with the wonderful Schaeffer Anne and I didn't want to test my family's fiber tolerance after they cheerfully accompanied me to MDSW. I'm also trying to keep a handle on the stash. I was fairly certain that I could avoid any fiber stores. (Stop laughing now. I mean it.) There happens to be however, a curious phenomenon that occurs when a yarn-loving knitter enters a fiber-friendly city. It is magnetic. Yarn stores just materialize in the path of the yarn lover and the force of the subsequent pull puts gravity to shame.

It happened to me while Letterboxing with the BackBou's wonderful cousin and her family in Portland, ME ...

After finding the Casco Bay letterbox, this yarn store just jumped in front of the path ...



Seaport Yarn! Well, I had to go in ... I ended up with 4 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (two Fresh Stripe and two Jungle Stripe).

I have never knit with this yarn (can you believe it?) and I can't wait!! While in the yarn store, I saw two extremely nice knitters who were executing a very successful yarn crawl -- they offered again and again to show me where the other great yarn stores were on there map, but after seeing the warning looks from the BackBou, I declined. However, it seemed quite clear that Portland is a fiber-friendly city.

As if that weren't enough, Portland has a Flatbread Company Restaurant! Lorna's and Flatbread? We were in heaven!

Socks and Rocks

I have returned from Maine only to be buried in a week's worth of scummy laundry and an empty larder. I'll return to posting later this week, but in the meantime, my sister, the World's Most Deserving Recipient of Handknits, has prepared the post below. An occasional guest-poster on XRK, she is once again providing the Muggle's Voice, extoling the handknit socks in action.

And don't miss her last statement -- she finally is ready to join the cult learn to knit!

As many of you know, I'm in a master's program for Environmental Studies at UPenn. Part of this fabulous program is a class called Rocky Mountain Geology and Ecology, which could also be entitled: Oh My God, What Am I Doing With This Desk Job. Basically, I went out gallivanting in the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Wyoming, and have had in my company two pair of Big Sis's socks along for the ride.

Pair #1 you know well: Trekking Blah. Which brings me to the first order of business: A confession. Yes, XRK readers, I have gone on record as a No-Socks-With-Sandals kind of gal, but alas, here is my (not really) shame laid bare:



I found a darn good reason: a cold, 8000-foot Rocky Mountain summer evening, with a cold delicious beer, after a long, hot hike. Guilty as charged, and not feeling bad about it at all.

But the real point here is to wax poetic about my new Tofutsies. So beautiful are they. You know this from our pre-trip shoot in Avalon, NJ, earlier this summer. They are incredibly silky, the colors pool delightfully, and they fit like a dream. Sis made them a wee bit longer in comparison to TB, and the heels hit me just right this time.

The first field test of the Tofutsies came on July 4th. My classmates and I struck out to the Glacier Lake trailhead off Route 212 in Montana to climb a mere two miles... and just shy of 1500 vertical feet. It's a gorgeous, eye-poppingly beautiful, lung-burning, exhilirating hike which I highly recommended if you're out that way.

For any pair of socks, this is a serious test. What did I find? I didn't even notice them. Hence, perfection. They didn't rub funny or bunch or get soggy or any such terrible thing.

And they made a fine picture at the top of the world, or so it seemed to be:


For the remaining ten odd days in the wild, I put both Tofutsies and Trekking Blah through the worst possible washing and drying regimen imaginable. I washed them repeatedly in a sink at my mountain camp, with water from Howell Gulch creek and a bar 'o soap. They dried on a wooden railing in the dry alpine air, with rocks as clothespins.

I wore them repeatedly, day in, day out, for two hard weeks of trekking along the Montana/Wyoming border. I caught grasshoppers with my bare hands for hours. I saw bison, wolves and grizzlies in Yellowstone. I climbed ridges and valleys and benches and ditches and glacial moraines and creeks. I took them on and off for dips in swimming holes of freezing water and boiling springs. I pranced amongst alpine wildflowers. I drank at the Grizzly Bar in Roscoe, Montana. I bet on racing pigs in Bear Creek. I saw men chase wild horses at the rodeo, ride bucking broncos bareback as storms charged across the plains 50 miles away in plain view. I answered a cowbell for dinner.

And dear readers, these socks, both pairs, for all these activities - they totally, totally rock.

Not one pull, none too much in the pilling department, no residual smell, no weird blisters, nothing. Nothing but good that is. I have relegated the commercial socks of this world to the dustbin of history and say to you now: Never hike in anything except perfectly fashioned handmades. By Liz, preferably of course.




Now if only she would make me two dozen odd pair more...

Or, if only I could knit. Hey Sis, how's about a sock lesson?!?

Cheers XRK friends - til next we adventure again!

Vacation Knitting

The family and I are headed to Maine on Friday, and we are in the throes of vacation planning and packing. First, on the enthusiastic recommendation of my sister who called me from the top of a mountain in Montana to tell me how much she loved them, I furiously knit myself a pair of TOFUtsies socks to wear while hiking.

They are a bit too small; the heel flap is too shallow, but they will do. After spending a year perfecting my toe-ups, I'm working on my cuff-down technique, and I still need some more practice. TOFUtsies is a very thin yarn, so next time I'll stick with a US1/2.25 mm needle and cast on more stitches and make my heel flap longer. I do love the silky feel of these socks, so you can expect to see more simple TOFUtsies from me.

Once I had the appropriate footwear packed, my attention turned to what knitting to pack. We'll be staying in a pond-side cabin in the Maine woods, with several days spent in the surrounding Acadia/Schoodic regions. I'll have a plane ride, some good long car rides, and hopefully, some time knitting pond-side as well.

I always travel with socks, and of course, I had to bring my summer crush, Nancy Bush, with me. Predictably, I'll be knitting the New England Socks from Knitting on the Road, corny as it may be. The dilemma was what yarn to choose. A lacy pattern calls for a solid or mostly-solid, so here were the candidates:

Lobster red Spirit Trail :: Leafy green Gems Opal :: Watery blue Koigu

You'll have to see the winner when I return, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one I chose.

Much of this trip will be spent in the car, meandering up Route 1, going back and forth between the cabin and Acadia. I cannot admire the scenery while hunched over a lace chart, so I will need a simple knit as well. Tomato is coming along, now being knit on smaller needles.

I am a chronic overpacker, but as the chief packer for the entire family, I am trying to break myself of this habit. I think stopping at two knitting projects seems like a good place to start. Surely a pair of socks and an entire sweater should keep my needles occupied for a week?

See you when I get back!

Navel Gazing

Ann and her family passed through Philadelphia for a quick overnight visit on their way North, and it was so fantastic. Yarn was exchanged, socks were knitted, Greek food was eaten, the kids played like old friends, and we made plans for a family weekend in the fall.

Ann gave Liz Fleece Artist Sea Wool
Liz gave Ann Schaefer Anne

Have you seen the newest Yarnival? I haven't had a chance to click through all of this month's features, but a certain Dear John letter to a sock pattern is featured this month.


In other news, despite having a a very refined taste in literature, our pal Bridget likes to slum it by reading our blog and likes it so much that she's nominated us for a Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. Shucks, Bridget, thanks! Carol introduced us to Bridget at MDSW and were instantly friends. Bridget has great literary content on her blog, with lots of reviews and recommendations, so if you like to read, check her out.


I suppose I get to name some other Rockin' Girls, so here goes:

Specs, since we have a mutual deep love of David Bowie.

Rachel, because maybe it will give her motivation to blog a bit more. She's been super-busy at work, and though I wish her lots of career success, I am endlessly entertained by her blog and wish she could post a bit more. And really, anyone who goes swimming in her wedding dress totally rocks in my book.

StuntMother and Eyeknit at Two Sharp Sticks deserve more readers. Eyeknit's analysis of her FOs in unparalleled, and her attention to detail rivals Grumperina's. That's saying a lot. StuntMother knits a staggering variety of things, from the most diaphanous lace to a sturdy woolen sweater, and she is an amazing writer, which she showcases at her other blog. StuntMother recently moved with her family to the country, and so I have an added empathy for them, as they too are now knitting friends separated by geography and united by blogging. They are also my friends in real life, and are amazingly accomplished women in their own rights.

Jody, because she is one of the smartest knitters I know, and is great company as well. But you all knew that already.

And finally, Sally at the Frog and the Daisy, a pal from the Montco Sit and Knit. Mostly a crocheter, she is also a natural knitter and serious yarnaholic. She also was one of my very first friends when I moved up here, and remains one of my best.


Up next, vacation knitting dilemmas.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Instead of blogging (or knitting much at all) this week, I:

went blonde spontaneously

found my perfect pair of jeans for 40% off

ate fresh raspberries from my backyard

took the kids to the pool every day

I also frogged another sweater-in-progress (Tomato was too big), and knit one sock. Blogging is likely to be sporadic over the next couple of weeks around here (for all of us). Mo is on a bit of hiatus since returning to work this Spring, and Ann and I will be in vacation mode over the next few weeks. But we'll post occasionally and try to check in with your blogs too.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Widdershins on the Rebound

My Darling Widdershins,

You knew that you would not be alone for long. I know that you must have been devastated when Liz kicked you to the curb, but I saw my opportunity. I had been eyeing you from afar for months now waiting for my chance to try my needles on your clever pattern.

I know I was a clumsy knitter for our first time together. I was trying to rework the pattern for my 4-year-old and I had to keep re-knitting to get the fit just right. But you made it all so easy and natural.

My only regret is that I was so casual about our project – small stash-busting socks. I know you thought I was just using you in order to finish up oddments, and, truth be told, I was. By the end, I was so completely smitten with your heel flap that I wanted the project to last longer – much, much longer.

I am yours Widdershins.*

With Big Knit Love,
Ann

*On an as needed basis of course: I do reserve the right to keep seeing Nancy Bush. She is a jealous mistress and I must not stray for long …



Pattern: Widdershins by Brooke Chenoweth Creel
Yarns: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids, Burgundy (toe); Wildfoote Vinca Minor (cuff); Claudia’s Handpainted Purple Earth (main color)
Needles: US1s dpn
Notes: I made these to fit a child’s size 10 and just adjusted things as I went. It was marvelous!

Fiberlicious Cotton

The Cropped Cardigan project has been scrapped. It wasn't the yarn's fault; I just couldn't modify the design to my satisfaction. It is hard to pull off a reaaaaalllllly deep neckline like that when you have curves, and every time I tried it on, I didn't like how I looked. I tried to raise the neckline twice, and gave up on a third attempt when I realized that I would have to frog the entire thing to raise it further. I haven't actually frogged it entirely; I figure I have a giant gauge swatch to study, measure, wash, and observe. Perhaps the Sylvan Spirit will be some kind of sweater-y thing (remember my yardage issues?) or maybe something else.

But I am not chastened in my attempts to actually make myself a sweater. My next try?


Tomato, in chocolate brown King Tut Cotton, with no fair-isle stripe across the chest or anywhere else for that matter. Knitting Daily reinforced my interest in a pattern that I had previously noticed at MDSW and during a perusal of No Sheep For You. My love of raglans knitted from the top down is well-documented, and despite my failure with the cardigan this week, I am quite excited for this top!

Conwys

I love Nancy Bush. These socks were such a joy to knit and like Liz, I'm having a fling with Nancy.

Pattern: Conwys from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids, Burgundy
Needles: US 1s dpn
Notes: No modifications. I loved knitting with this yarn and will knit with it again. I was surprised by the color which I found tended toward a deep rose rather than what I typically think of as burgundy. It is really lovely.

Lace Report
I haven't been completing my required 2 pattern repeats of the Diamond Border Scarf. I'm going to be picking it up much more this week. Although I did buy a pattern for the XRK Yarn-Along Yarn -- Sylvan Spirit. Many thanks to Melanie at The Yarn Lounge for help in picking it out! I thought it appropriate to knit the Leaf Lace Shawl with this yarn due to the name and the color. I won't start for a few more weeks since I want to be really making headway on the Diamond Border Scarf before I start another lace project.

Stash Report
I was in Charlottesville a week and a half ago and picked up these goodies at The Needle Lady.

Koigu and Jitterbug

Yummy. I see more socks and a chevie for me!

Garden Report
Here's how the garden looked at the close of June. Since I snapped this, the black-eyed Susans and purple coneflower have burst into bloom as well as my favorite oriental lilies. Things are so lush and full -- my time is spent mostly in watering, weeding, and deadheading ... oh and knitting on the patio!

XRK Yarn-Along

It doesn't take a sharp-eyed reader to notice that the three XRK bloggers have very different aesthetics, and are inspired to knit for very different reasons. When the same pattern catches all of our fancies, then, it is the perfect occasion for an XRK KAL. So at MDSW when Ann and I both swooned over the same yarn in the same color, we knew it would be the perfect yarn for the first ever XRK Yarn-Along. The yarn, Green Mountain Spinnery's Sylvan Spirit is a 50/50 wool/tencel blend, in a beautiful silvery green colorway called Peridot.

The idea of our yarn-along is to see what the three of us create with this same yarn, to see how different knitters can take the same material and create something totally unique, as well as learn from each other how each of us treat the same material.

So as the first knitter with the Sylvan Spirit yarn, I have some impressions and observations:

- the yarn is even more beautiful knitted up than in the skein. There are beautiful yellow flecks throughout the yarn, and some darker green ones as well. The yellow surprised me, especially with the generally silvery cast of the yarn, creating a verdigris color that makes the fabric rich and interesting, even in plain stockinette. The stitches are beautifully defined, and the fabric it creates is an interesting blend of elegant (the silveriness) and rustic (the tweediness and hand).

- the wool is not like a soft merino, so it does not have that super-soft hand, but I imagine that will change some upon washing. An informative review of the yarn here confirms these suspicions. It has a crisp, almost crunchy hand, but the fabric feels a little smoother once knitted up, similar to hemp or linen, although it is not at all twine-like to knit with. I wouldn't call it itchy, but itch-tolerance is relative.

- I am getting about 5 spi on US7s.

- This yarn would make a beautiful clapotis or any other simple shawl. It isn't smoothly silky, but the drape would be divine, especially knit at a larger gauge.

I originally had the Rusted Root pattern in mind but discarded that idea when I realized that this yarn really is wool. Not in that really scratchy, Lopi-like way, but in that really warm way. This is not a summer-top yarn. So I started the Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits (also available for free here). Although my gauge is different, I think this yarn is a good match for the pattern, and it is the right weight for a cropped cardigan, a perfect, "throw-it-on-over-something" layer. But through this process, I learned something else about this yarn that I am very, very sorry to report:

- I don't think we bought enough yarn to make a cropped cardigan. A shrug? Yes. Bolero? Maybe. Vest? Sure. But a cropped cardigan with sleeves? Probably not.

- You can buy more of the yarn here.

Enough with the Socks Already!

Alas, my membership in the SSLS was very, very short. I am too type-A to be leaving single socks laying around, waiting for their mate. So, another finished pair of socks to report, my first for the Summer of Socks KAL.



Pattern: Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern, from Knitting Vintage Socks, by Nancy Bush

Yarn & Needles: Tess Supersock & Baby, Twilight colorway, 2.75mm (US 2) KnitPicks circs
I love the twist and spring of this yarn, but I do not like two things: lots of pooling on the foot, and the dye the yarn left on my fingers. The pooling is somewhat masked by the shell pattern, but it pools nonetheless.

Pattern Mods: I had no intention of modifying this sock, and originally knit the first one with no modifications whatsoever. When I knit the second sock, I made the heel flap several rows too long because I wasn't paying attention to the pattern. I assume a heel flap has 30 rows, with 15 slipped chain stitches to pick up, and did this on the second sock, and proceeded to decrease for the gusset as usual, back down to 60 stitches.

The CFS calls for only 26 rows in the heel flap. I noticed my mistake when I tried on the second sock and it fit so much better across the instep with a longer flap. The foot of the first sock did some seriously ugly pooling as well, so I was happy to rip it out and lengthen the heel flap to match the better-fitting second sock.


Now, never would I question the genius that is Nancy Bush, but future CFS knitters might want to lengthen their heel flap too. I remembered Megan complaining that her CFS did not fit across her instep originally either. Megan and I have seriously different feet -- she is quite tall and has, um, substantial feet, while I am quite short, and my feet are decidedly small. Very different feet, same problem -- you do the math.

Despite this little issue, my torrid summer affair with Nancy Bush continues, with continued progress on the Gentleman's Fancy Sock, and perhaps Canal du Midi next in the queue.

I am not a Single Sock gal, but I did learn from my recent sock profligacy that I can knit multiple sock projects simultaneously and still not suffer from serious Second Sock Syndrome. Knitting only socks for weeks, though, has got me antsy for something a little meatier. For the last few months, I have knitted socks, accessories, stash-busting design projects for Rosebud and the like, but now I am hankering for some tops and sweaters for me, maybe some lace to get me through the dog days of summer.

I started one already. I'll blog about it more this week, but for now, a little preview, Fiberlicious-style!