Summer Fries

Pattern: Summer Flies
a free pattern by Donna Griffin

Yarn: Sundara Sock in color Delphinium
100% (really yummy) merino - 350 yds.

Needles: Size 6 KnitPicks Options

This semi-circular shawl (or shawlette in my case since I used a fingering weight yarn instead of the worsted called for in the pattern) was nice to knit even though there are only written directions and you know I am a chart lover at heart. The yarn was dream to work and feels even better blocked. I know it will feel nice around the neck and I plan to wear it more as scarf than a shawlette.

Donna called her design "Summer Flies" after the way she says summer flies by. I just couldn't seem to call my FO that. In my world summer drags....on..and on....and on. Unlike others I have read who enjoy a little something on their shoulders on summer evenings or in overly cool a/c, I never seem to need anything like that. A summer shawl? I can barely tolerate earrings when it is in the 90s! Instead I went with a different verb. For me summer fries.

Nobody needs a mink coat

....but a mink scarf sures feels nice!

No this isn't some PETA comment. Instead it comes from one of my favorite fun movies, "Christmas in Connecticut". Spoken on screen by the actor S. Z. Zakall to Barbara Stanwyck, he tells her "nobody needs a mink coat but the mink". His Uncle Felix is wonderfully played.

I think you can tell from this photo how SOFT this scarf is in this yarn. What you may not be able to tell from the photo is how LIGHT it is as well. Just a froth.

This was such a quick and satisfying project that I never even mentioned it on the blog! It jumped on my needles just before Christmas so I can only suppose I was busy with other things. I wore it several times before even taking the time to soak it and I blocked it by just patting (petting?) it out gently to dry.

Once again I used Cathy Payson's Vine and Flower Scarf from Interweave Knit's Holiday 2009 issue and size 6 bamboo short straight needles. This is a staggered vine lace pattern and is, I think, the most relaxing, soothing stitch to knit. Of course it helps when the yarn is 70% mink and 30% cashmere. Oh yes it does.

I used all 230 yards and the scarf came out 6.5" x 44". Such a joy.
NOT needed today as it will be 70 degrees. Jonquils have begun blooming in the back.

Bertha

Pattern: Citron by Hilary Smith Callis

free at Knitty

Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace color 402 gray

437 yds/50 gr - a bit less than a full skein

Needles: size 4 KnitPicks Options; 32" cable

According to wikipedia, a bertha collar is a wide, flat, round collar, often of lace or sheer fabric, worn with a low neckline in the Victorian era and resurrected in the 1940s.

You can see a lovely lace one here and another lovely lace one here. One in Carrickmacross lace here with sweet shamrocks. Too expensive? Here's a less expensive machine-made one. One in Burano lace for Mary.

While this 100% baby alpaca was lovely and soft to work with, I think a smooth merino lace in a bright, happy color would work better for this simple pattern - at least for me.

To block this, I just soaked the finished piece as usual for about 20 minutes. I pinned out the top straight edge and gently patted out the semicircle. I didn't want to flatten any of the gathered sections or the edge ruffle.

Triinu Scarf

Pattern: Triinu Scarf by Nancy Bush

"Knitted Lace of Estonia"**
10" x 50" relaxed

Yarn: Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace
70% alpaca / 30% silk
460 yds/50 gr - color 2481 Misty Meadow

Needle: Size 4 KnitPicks Options circular

Once again blocking worked wonders. It was hard to feel the love for this one during the knitting. Maybe that is why it took me so much longer. It certainly wasn't the fault of the pattern which was very straightforward and easy to remember. There were nupps on only two rows and, with only three repeats across, only six at most on any row. The column of two purl stitches that separate the repeats looked especially sloppy in the pre-blocked state. Once blocked they combine with the triple decreases on either side to form graceful arcs.

Not a great blocking job on the edges, but perhaps with wear it will ease into line. Wish I knew a faster, easier, more reliable way to work those blasted wires!

At any rate, glad to have this one done. This yarn was purchased way back in Aug. 2008 from The Yarn Circle in Murphy, NC. That was a lovely, relaxing trip so there are good memories tied up in this yarn and I am glad to finally have put it to good use.

If you are ever in the Murphy, NC area I recommend stopping in at this shop. The shop was established originally to meet the needs of weavers at John C. Campbell folk school and there is a lot of depth in their inventory.

**I can't say enough GOOD THINGS about this book. I have enjoyed it so much and used it more than any other I own. The history presented in the first part of the book is fascinating (to me at least!). Nancy says this scarf was inspired by an article in the Spring 1990 issue of Triinu magazine, founded in 1952 by four Estonian women all living in Sweden after the war. Experts in Estonian national costume and handcrafts, they wanted to create a magazine to keep their national traditions alive and to connect fellow Estonians dispersed throughout the world. It was published four times a year by a series of co-editors located in different countries. Early copies were simple copied pages of type. Always issues included an inspirational message at the beginning followed by poetry, articles on art, literature, culture, and recipes and also always featured a young woman in regional national costume along with patterns for making it. Obviously a labor of love.

Steel Magnolia

Pattern: Vine and Flower Scarf by Cathy Payson

Interweave Knits Holiday 2009 (sans flower!)

Yarn: Brooks Farm Acero
60% superwash wool / 20% silk / 20% vicose
420 yards / 113 gr (4 oz.)
I think the color is Cathy ??

Needles: Size 7 Crystal Palace Bamboo 9" straights

[Now I know you must be exclaiming, "what? no red door?" Shocking, isn't it?]

This scarf was knit especially for a former co-worker. I was thinking of her as I roamed around Stitches South and hoped to find some special yarn to make something for her. When I spotted this Brooks Farm Acero, I knew I had found it. Brooks Farm says they chose this name because it is Spanish for steel. My friend has been one tough cookie these past few months so I felt a steel scarf would be just right.

I've already said what a JOY this yarn was to knit. The pattern is a very simple staggered vine lace over 40 stitches. Any stitch dictionary probably has one. And although this particular project never traveled, this would make a GREAT travel project. The two right-side rows are the very same except one row is offset by one stitch. All wrong-side rows are purled. You can immediately know which row to start just by looking at your work. No pattern to keep up with and no notes to take.

I took this in to work with me today so I could drop it off at my friend's house. Door Knob Love. For a change, I walked across to the square to get a daylight shot. A bit muggy, but a wonderful chance to get out for a few minutes.

Spread out on a bench you can see how wildly the colors snake through the piece, but when worn I think you only notice the lovely richness of the colors and the beauty of the yarn. I will be wanting more of this one day.

Good Luck Cow !

Well with all the many and varied (not to mention free) cowl patterns over on Ravelry, it was only a matter of time until I tried one.

I picked up a skein of Classic Elite Fresco when I was wandering around on the other side of the county over the holiday break. It comes in lots of lovely colors and I finally decided on #5364 which they call Celestial Blue.

Fresco is a blend of 60% wool / 30% baby alpaca / 10% angora so it is soft and fuzzy. At 164 yards/skein, I was able to get only 7 full repeats but it came out to a nice size. I cast on 110 instead of the 100 specified so it would slip easily on and off over the head and with maybe less chance of messing up the hair.

I knit with the size 7 bamboo circular that I have in the short 16" length which made it fast and easy to just knit around and around on this pattern.

After a soak, I just patted it out to dry and later affixed a little hang tag to send with my husband for a coworker/friend. When I passed it over to him, he took a glance at the tag and misread it thinking it said Good Luck Cow! Well my lowercase 'L' may have been a bit short. So that provided our amusement for the evening and he and Audrey had another little chuckle when he gave it to her today. So easily amused we are.

Feather & Fan

The Victorian Feather & Fan scarf got finished sometime back (10/17 according to my notes), and was recently mailed off with birthday wishes. I am only now getting around to finally posting a picture.


To recap, I used the easy and free pattern posted here and two 25-gram balls of Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere bought long, long ago.

The softness of the yarn, the lovely Victorian Violet color, and the soothing repetition of this classic old lace pattern made this a wonderfully pleasing project.

Knitted end-to-end, the Old Shale pattern results in two ends that scallop differently. I wasn't bothered by that for this project, but some other time I may try knitting two halves and grafting them at the center back.

According to Martha Waterman in "Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls", the Old Shale pattern is the most common used in Shetland hap shawls and shale patterns are named for the way the waves look as they wash upon a shale shoreline

a cloud on the horizon

Would you be surprised to learn that my new knit is a lace shawl? No? How about that it is one from "Knitted Lace of Estonia"? Still not surprised? How about that I'm not using Lacey Lamb? See! I'm full of surprises. And, hey! It isn't even RED either!

I bought two balls of Classic Elite's Silky Alpaca Lace in a soft gray they call Cloud Gray. I think it would be perfect for the Galina Khmeleva shawl pictured on the front of the current "Piecework", but just reading the instructions made my head hurt! I just felt I'd be too distracted to tackle it just now.

Instead I turned back to Nancy Bush and picked "Triangular Scarf in Leaf Pattern". This one starts at the very bottom tip and increases up. One 8-stitch leaf is repeated. Once the triangle is knitted, stitches are picked up all around and the edge is knitted on.

Something tells me that it may prove too long and pointed to be very wearable, but it sure is FUN to knit so far.

I'm certainly getting Santa Claus' money's worth out of this book and there are a couple more simple ones before I get to the gorgeous Crown Prince Square Shawl pictured on the book's cover.

(Sat., June 13 is World Wide Knit In Public Day. I enjoyed a new-to-me podcast today complete with British accent - Electric Sheep - and in episode 2 she gives a little glimpse into her public knitting encounters.)

FO on the floor

The scarf has been done for a few days but I kept putting off the blocking. [I won't bore you here again with how much I dislike this process.]

This is one with beads instead of nupps. I've nothing against nupps. I don't mind knitting them and I love the way they look. I just wanted to try beads out for once and I like the look for this scarf.

Beads instead of nupps

[Blogland's most boring post title, but my mind is blank.]

Thank you to my two loyal readers and commenters for the encouragement on the start of a sweater. It reached the 70s today. The irony was not lost on me!

The sweater is to be an off-and-on project. It is a lot of stockinette in the round and will be perfect for a travel project - at least until the sleeves get attached and it becomes a little cumbersome for lugging about.

Repeating patterns, specifically lace, and more specifically Estonian lace, is my current obsession. I had started this scarf version of Estonian Garden (Fiber Trends S-2009) just before Christmas when I was craving soft alpaca. This is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine so not a laceweight yarn. At the time I started it I was just trying hard to knit something other than an Evelyn A. Clark triangle. You know how I love them!

I thought this yarn a little thick for nupps and had always planned on substituting beads. I don't know if you've ever tried to find beads to match a yarn, but I never seem to find just the right bead. I'm not a big fan of shiny anyway. This tube contained a combination of shiny and matte and with enough variation in color, too, that I thought they just might work even though they they were a little more green than I wanted. We shall see as this project progresses.

Speaking of which I hope it progresses quickly. My Christmas present copy of "Knitted Lace of Estonia" by Nancy Bush finally arrived! I'm chomping at the bit to start a project from that wonderful book. Or maybe I'm just chomping M&Ms. You know those Valentine colors have been out for weeks!

Blackberry Bramble

Pattern: "Teal Forest" by Lijuan Jing for Jojoland

9" x 60"

Yarn: Jojoland Melody fingering weight superwash

220 yds/50 g - color MS20

Needles: size 4 KnitPicks Options circular

This was a project that started off great. I saw a shop sample done in the lovely forest green colorway shown on the pattern front and just loved it. Things went downhill shortly afterwards when I got ready to add in the second ball and couldn't locate it anywhere. The LYS still had a ball in the same dye lot so I was able to complete it.

Verdict: I'll probably not be knitting this pattern again. I'm not sure I did the p2tog tbl stitch properly. I did the best I could and figured if I did it consistently it would still be a pattern even if not exactly the pattern. Yarn has a nice feel and I enjoyed knitting with it - when I could find it!

A bit ironic that I ended up going with yet another Jojoland colorful yarn right on the heels of the overly colorful Harmony shawl.

The Thrill Is Gone*

Here's the Blackberry Bramble so far. That's the second ball about halfway knitted......or the third, depending on how you look at it. Technically ball #2 has never surfaced.

What can I say? I'm a fickle knitter. Suddenly, without warning, I hate it. And to make matters worse, I dropped a stitch while in the drive-thru at the bank. I know. Stupid to be knitting in the drive-thru.

Maybe I should hide it for awhile. Maybe I should instead tackle the mound of paper that is taking over the house. Mary and Kay seem to be all domestic this week.

* Yeah, B.B. I feel the blues.

Welcome to Jojoland

Second Verse. Not the same as the first.

I went looking for some sock yarn. Now I already had a ball of sock yarn (actually two) but I wanted, or thought I wanted, something for a pair in the latest IW Knits. Really I think I may have just wanted to go to the yarn shop. Perhaps you can relate?

None of the sock yarn seemed just right. Instead, a shop sample of scarf and some more Jojoland yarn, this time in fingering weight, caught my eye.

The pattern is "Teal Forest" and the shop sample was done in the wonderful blue/green color shown on the pattern sheet. I'm going instead for this dark purple-y/red that reminds me so much of a pint of ripe blackberries.

Unlike my last Jojo ride, this one doesn't change colors, but only shades within one color. I'm hoping it will block out nicely and look more like the pattern and shop sample.

Move Over, Bozo

...there's a new kid in town.

My friend, Kay, is a quilter and she's used to challenges. Her quilt guild and other groups she is in often have challenges. Usually these involve being given one or more fabrics, quite often bright or busy prints, and being challenged to use them in a particular way or to dream up a quilt on a specified theme.

You may remember the very clever one she did last year when the theme was "Windows".

Well Kay has spent this summer at her cabin on a lake in Minnesota. She and a quilting friend stumbled into Amazing Threads thinking it was a quilt shop only to discover it packed with yarn. Since Kay is always generous and often sends me goodies, especially when she's off in MN, she decided to get me something.

Her letter said "I thought you needed something outside your usual color scheme and this could put you over the edge".

This yarn (Sakura by Noro) is every bit as colorful as my friend Kay. I opened it just as I finished binding off the Plain Vanilla Malabrigo shawl and I spent the next couple of hours rooting through patterns and searching around Ravelry for the perfect project. And do you know? I think I found it!

I won't post a picture of what I've managed to get done so far just in case Kay stumbles over here, but it's on my Ravelry projects page.

That Kay. She keeps you laughing!

Peony Cabled Scarf

Pattern: Classic Cable Scarf

from "Knit Ponchos Wraps and Scarves" by Jane Davis

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Worsted 100% baby alpaca 109 yds/50 gr

color 3720 - Peony

Needles: Size 7 Crystal Palace bamboo straights

Absolute pleasure knitting. This yarn is so incredibly soft and wonderful. I have loved every ball of Misti Alpaca ever knit. This very simple cable only crosses every 10th row so this is basically a ribbed scarf with a bit of interest. The two balls blocked out to about 5" wide by 56" long.