One misty, moisty morning

A wee FO

Pattern: Infant Socks by Judy Ellis

Yarn: Serenity by Premier Yarns
50% merino wool / 25% bamboo / 25% nylon

Needles: size 1 bamboo dpns

I found this little pattern years ago on the Socknitters website. There are loads of free sock patterns over there. As written, it makes a very small basic infant sock. I can often get a wee pair out of leftovers from my own socks. Generally I only adjust by knitting 8 rounds before the toe decreases, but this time I also upped the cast on number to 48 from the stated 40.

These, along with the book, will go to a friend who is expecting a son in May. I had a couple of other books in my hand before finding and selecting this one. I love, love, love Richard Scarry's illustrations, remembering them from my childhood and enjoying them again years later when my daughter was born. His little rabbits are so cute. Wouldn't you love to be an illustrator? I would.


"I'm not interested in creating a book that is read once and then placed on the shelf and forgotten. I am very happy when people have worn out my books, or that they're held together by Scotch tape." Richard Scarry

(1919-1994)

Band H

The English Sampler doesn't see much action most weeks. In fact, last summer it hardly came out at all. Each horizontal band is identified on the chart by a letter and I have just finally completed band H. I think of that H as standing for Hump and feel I am finally over the hump.

You can see from the magazine page that I am about halfway down and that the lower half is whitework and those bands of drawn thread and pulled-thread embroidery are the reason that I chose this design in the first place.

I was inspired by some lovely work I saw at the Magnolia Sampler Guild's exhibit in September 2009. The next exhibit will be this September. Wouldn't it be grand if I had it done by then?
One can dream.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled knit

Obviously this photo is way over-exposed. Daylight-Saving Time and late afternoon sun to blame.

This is the project that drove me to a soothing EAC pattern.

There is nothing wrong with the pattern and I keep telling myself that, when finished and blocked, the stole will probably be quite wearable. It should brighten up black and even work with jeans. In fact, I specifically picked the yarn for the dark, rich blues. I just am having a hard time dealing with the stripes. All I can see are stripes.

After almost every purl row when I return to the right side, I stop and stretch it out over my thighs (that alone is enough to give one pause!) and ponder the stripes. I sigh and squint and silently encourage myself. I just know if this were more tonal in color that I would be knitting on it more.

This is yarn that I bought last April at Stitches South. Stitches South is returning and I'd feel a lot better if this was done and folded away for the summer before I headed off to the vendor market.

Chromatophobia

the fear of colors

I don't really have a FEAR of colors. I like many colors - just maybe not together.* Well, maybe not hot pink. Or lime green. Nor pastels, really. Gee, this is becoming quite a list!

My wonderful interlude with Evelyn is over. Every stitch a relaxing joy.

I used her free pattern, Brimnes Lace Shawl. I don't think it is available outside of Ravelry. If anyone needed a reason to join Ravlery, well there you go! The KnitPicks Palette yarn softened up nicely after a Soak.

It immediately brought to my mind Civil War-era garments. JP actually likes it and says it doesn't remind him of Civil War clothing at all, but then he doesn't really immerse himself in period dramas or know all the scenes from "Gone With the Wind". It is the first shawl I've made that I might be self-conscious wearing out in public. Or the first one that I thought cried out for a rocking chair. Not that there is anything wrong with rockers. smile

In my bookmarks are links to blogs of creative folks who LOVE color, cannot get enough color, wouldn't dream of making a single object in ONE color alone. I love reading their posts and seeing their projects even as I know I could never let loose with so much color myself.

You may already follow this one - Attic 24. Lucy blogs from Northern England and has a terrific scarf FO in her current post. She most assuredly is not a chromatophobe!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and her excitement and enthusiasm really came across as she shared the project.

*I make an exception for a rainbow of M&Ms.

Saturday with Evelyn

After some chilly weather this week and a VERY wet day on Wednesday, it is a beautiful, sunny Saturday.

I should be taking advantage of the wonderful light to finish up the large floral band on the sampler, and perhaps I will get to that before the weekend is over, but today I returned to the EAC shawl.

I have no idea how this yarn is going to work out for this project OR if I will like the colors, but the working of the pattern is - as with all Evelyn A. Clark patterns - a delight. Things fall into place, the charts are clear and easy to read, numbers are given in the written directions. Just a soothing companion.

I've just added the garnet and have only about four more rows of the Old Shale pattern before I bind off. I think it is a crochet bind off, but I haven't really read that far ahead.

I wish I could see and handle the Icelandic lace yarn called for by the pattern before ordering it sight-unseen. Not sure why. I mean if it is good enough for Evelyn.....of course I'll like it.

mishap

This particular EAC pattern grows 6 stitches every other row, getting wider faster than some I've knit in the past.

I was knitting happily along when all of a sudden...whoops....no cable at the end of my needle. Fortunately it was not a disaster and I was able to recover without too much trouble.

I'm using KnitPicks Options which I just love. This particular 24" cable has been used quite a bit so I'm not terribly upset. Since 2 cables come with each length ordered, I still have a 24" and I've already switched to a longer length anyway.

I'll just order a replacement some time. I do love the KnitPicks cables even better than addi Turbo. I find stitches harder to count on the clear cables of the addi Turbo needles. I also find the KnitPicks cables to be much more flexible and I love that they are interchangeable and have the handy little end caps. Those end caps have come in handy a number of times.

Enjoying the weekend so far. Hope you are, too!

I heart M&Ms

I love it when the holidays overlap and I can just go straight from Valentine M&Ms into Easter ones.

The EAC shawl is coming along nicely. Never as much time to knit as I would like. In the meantime I have gone back and put several more rows on the Moody Blues project. Do you know it was more enjoyable! I think just working a bit with Evelyn made me appreciate the stitches more. That may sound odd, but I think it is true. Or maybe she just helps me enjoy knitting period.

Serenity now

Happily knitting away on the EAC project, every stitch a joy.

When I succumbed to the call of this project, I grabbed yarn I had to hand which was a few balls of KnitPicks Palette purchased a few years back to knit an Estonian sheep with a colorwork body. It was a small sheep that took very little of the garnet and gray and not even very much of the cream.

I think I'll be able to finish out the chart I'm on, but will need to switch to another color soon. To my eye all of these choices are a bit dark to transition nicely into the next chart, but I really don't want to order more until I see how this yarn really blocks out for lace. I've seen lots of knitters use it on Ravelry so I have high hopes. Besides I know this is NOT my only time to knit this pattern.

When asked for his opinion, JP voted to go with the gray. I've got to decide fairly soon. Any thoughts from you?

[in trying to find a non-Ravelry link to a picture of this pattern, I happened to land on Evelyn's own Flickr set! Hers knitted in wonderful Icelandic laceweight. sigh]

Not everything makes sense

Profound, huh?

I have been knitting away on the Moody Blues project; enjoying the yarn, happy with the pattern, but just not quite satisfied. Stopping every few rows to poke around Ravelry at either random other wonderful projects or things I've had my eye on for some time.

I tried to tell myself not to start anything new, but I finally caved today because I knew. I KNEW what would make me happy.

Evelyn A. Clark.

So there you see the start of a new EAC project. A project that uses the exact SAME stitches as the Moody Blues project. No new fancy stitches. No exotic yarn. So what makes the difference? I have NO idea. I just know that nothing (and I do mean NO THING) ever is as soothing and satisfying for me to knit than an Evelyn A. Clark pattern.

Is there any ONE thing that works like that for you?

"And all the loveliest things there be come simply, or so it seems to me."
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Cartoon for the day

There's more than one way to skein a cat

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Stash

I'm calling this little baby cap Flavia, after the main character in the book "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie". I haven't read the book. I got my fill of Flavia just reading and hearing about her. But since this little baby gift was made from yarn from the bottom of the stash, that phrase sort of stuck in my head as I knit it.

This is yarn bought years and years ago when I very first began to knit. I bought it to make a preemie hat for the lace club service project. Those projects have to be knit with non-wool yarn, so this Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK which is 50% microfiber acrylic and 50% nylon fit the bill.

Although it is billed as a DK weight and the ball band recommends a size 6 needle, that seemed a bit hard for me to believe. I used a size 4 needle. I didn't even have the concentration needed to search for or follow a pattern so I just cast on 88 and did this simple variation of a k2/p2 rib. It is called Baby Cable Rib in Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks" - just three rows of k2/p2 and on the fourth you create the twist by k2tog, leave on the needle, k the first stitch and slide both off. Makes a nice little change from basic rib and really isn't any slower.

The bamboo dpns I used were really too grabby but I couldn't be bothered to change. And, just another reason why I still love dpns, the crown is a simple decrease at eight points. So easy to keep track of when everything is nicely divided on four needles.

Forget Flavia; for some reason now I'm thinking about PIE.

10% more free

who doesn't love a bargain?

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.

Fiber field trip

I have made it to Chart C, the main body of the stole. I'm enjoying the pattern and the yarn, but I do wish it was more tonal and didn't have those distinct stripes of dark. I'm hoping overall, when finished, that I won't focus on them as much. Kind of hard not to focus when it is right in front of your eyes!

A very warm day here making me think perhaps that pesky groundhog was correct. Everyone else seems to be more than ready for spring. I would be, too, if we'd have weeks and weeks of true cool spring instead of rushing right into heat.

I spent a couple of hours of this beautiful weather indoors. I went to the open house held by the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild. Although they had demonstrations set up for many techniques, table loom weaving, floor loom weaving, spinning, knitting, bead embroidery, and others, I honed in on my target - card (or tablet) weaving.

It is one of those techniques that have been floating around in the back of my mind (the vast, empty warehouse) for a number of years. Last fall at SAFF, I almost bought a set of cards and the only thing that stopped me was the fear that I'd bring them home and they would sit unused. As you well know, there are only so many FREE hours in a day.

Woven bands are part of many folk costumes including the bunads of Norway. There are eleven pages of bands over at the digital Norsk Folkemuseum.




I have been enviously eyeing the wonderful woven bands over at Yarn Jungle. She does such beautiful work.