New Kid in Town

There is a new independent dyer in town, who we know as the lovely Sam.  She has started up an on-line shop, and now has some product over at Make 1 under the name ‘Yummy Yarn Studios“. 

 I couldn’t resist the happy yarn pictured at left, mostly because I think it is going to make an adorable little baby sweater.  I found this garter stitch jacket that should be perfect for a new born.  I can’t wait to try out this pattern, it looks like its going to be good for making multiple sizes by just increasing yarn weight and needle size.  I have a few other odd balls of yarn that may work.  Plus since it looks like and quick, it could be good for making gifts! 

 I had to hide the tag however, since it was making me hungry for ice cream every time.  I think I may change the name in my head to just “blueberries” which is much more healthy.  I’m trying to detox from all that Hallowe’en candy, and the guys at work keep buying donuts which isn’t helping. 

All the best of luck to Sam!

Working on September 1 Goals

I’ve been continuing my quarterly goals, during which I tally my stash in Ravelry and download the totals to an Excel spreadsheet, and add up the remaining yards.  I was a bit surprised that from April 1 to July 1 the number went up by almost 2000 yards.  All that knitting I did was cancelled out by trips to Olds, and various other stops along the way.  I enjoy my yarn, but I would also like to see the totals go down!  Therefore my goal for September 1 was to see the number go down from July 1, which is easier said than done!  In order to make it I need to knit another 700 yards by next Wednesday.  Good thing we are going camping this weekend, as camping for me now means sitting in the camp reading, and knitting.  I will try and work in some nature walks, but I really can’t be as active as I used to be, it really takes it out of me, and then I need a whole week to recover.  They don’t tell you in the advertisements that being pregnant can make you feel like you are 80!  They just concentrate on the cute baby.  So, 700 yards.  Its going to be difficult, but I’m going to try.

And of course I’m having a blast updating the tally in my spreadsheet every few days to see how close I’m getting.  Now I need to go and watch the first results show on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, because yes, my life is just that exciting, and I now have a few favorites I’d like to see stay, including one amazing dancer from Edmonton.  Four more rows of Icarus, then the finishing up!  That should be worth 100-200 more yards?

Twist and Knit- Miriam Felton

A few weeks ago Miram Felton came all the way up to Calgary to introduce her wonderful new book Twist and Knit, and teach a bunch of us how to design our own lace items.  I’d like to note first of all how much admiration I have for Miriam to have designed these shawls, socks and gloves in the first place, and then to have written and published this book by herself, it really is  a monumental accomplishment.  If you don’t have your copy yet, hurry up! 

Miriam took some time on Friday night to introduce each design in the book, mentioning the inspiration, and what she was trying to accomplish with each piece.  It is one thing to see a design in a 2-d book, but quite another to see it in person, and being wrapped around Miriam who looked so stylish in her grey outfit, perfect with each design.  She pointed out unique aspects of each piece, how the Lacy Lune scarf ends curl pleasingly, how the folds of the Dropleaf Wrap fall into pleats when draped across your shoulders.  The non-lacy Lune makes me wish I had hurried up and learned to spin years ago, it’s giving me some more excellent motivation to get a move on.  It’s such a perfect design for hand-spun, and a very interesting, yet simple design, all the versions showing up on Ravelry are so beautiful in handspun.  My first project will however be a lacy Lune, made with silver Geisha silk from Blue Moon that is going to be incredible!  As soon as I finish Icarus that is, I am still amazed how long it takes when knitting with practically thread. 

During the class we jumped right into picking out stitch patterns, discussing basic shawl types, and deciding which one we wanted to use.  I decided to do a four wedge shawl, which yields a semi-circle end product as I had never made one of that shape before. 

I picked a stitch pattern, called Lingdon Berry, that seemed fairly simple, and began graphing away.  Making stitch charts by hand is a lot of fun.  The stitch pattern seemed very simple, and I felt clever until Miriam figured out the pattern would not repeat for 40 rows, which meant 40 rows of graphing.  Oops.  I cast on the correct number of stitches, and began making my four wedges of lingdonberries.  The pattern is slowly emerging as you can see on the left, and it isn’t that bad.  It needs a good number of inches still to look decent.  Once the shawl is done, and the Lingdonberry Wedgie becomes an internet sensation, all will be well.  That is if I finish making it, and if I ever decide to formally graph up my 40+ rows.  I think I may have to leave the designing to the professionals like Miriam.  After all, she does it so well, and as it appears to us her fans, so effortlessly.

Swatching

I had a fit of swatching on the weekend, due to my Tall Flower Cardi being finished, except for one sleeve.  The extra yarn in on order!  The top small swatches are Alpaca Drops for a Buttercup sweater.  I can’t wait to start this one!  The green is my fabulous Peace Fleece which may become a Drops cardigan.  I had been looking around for a short sleeve sweater with cables, since I only have 5 skeins, and this one looked almost perfect.  I got excellent gauge as well, and knitted up, washed and dried the Peace Fleece is even better.  I kinda want to start the green cardigan first, but I think I’ll make myself start Buttercup, as its more of a cold summer, early fall sweater.  I have itchy fingers!!

Changing Things Up

I’ve been thinking about changing the way I knit for a while now, but its a big decision.  First off it will take a long time to get into a new rhythm, and secondly the good thing about the way I knit is that I have extremely even, it doesn’t change, tension. 

I’m currently a thrower, or an English knitter.  I grasp the yarn loosely between my thumb and index finger, and throw it around the needle.  I feel rather attached to the English style of knitting not only because this is the way my mother taught me when I was young, but how countless Europeans before us knit.  And also because Nancy Bush tells me this way is wonderful, and its the only way to make nupps.  However one question I really wanted to ask Nancy Bush, and did have time to ask her, was how she held the yarn in her right hand.  I’ve been wondering for awhile if I could speed up my knitting by holding the yarn differently, and get away from the fact I completely drop the right needle to throw the yarn, then pick it back up again. 

After consulting my Vogue Knitting reference, looking around on the internet, and remembering the lesson from Nancy Bush, I started wrapping the yarn around my baby finger as pictured at left, and tensioning it with my index finger.  This leaves my thumb and middle finger free to work on the needle.  I try and not use my thumbs if I can, as it tends to hurt the joints after awhile. 

I got out some gorgeous Noro Retro that I treated myself to at Christmas (after drooling over it for months) and started a ribbed cable scarf to practice.  So far I’m finding this method very natural, and I’m already faster!  However my tension is tighter, which means that I need to switch back to the old method in order to finish off my current projects.  But going forward, starting with this scarf, I think I’ll stick with this now. 

And don’t be so surprised that I started what will probably be a warm, thick wool scarf this weekend.  It snowed most of it!

New Years Traditions

The New Years Traditions are kept more faithfully than any Christmas traditions, other than loving my special christmas decorations.  My parents enjoyed their New Years “polar bear” swim this year, bravely plunging into the pool on their tropical island, even though the temperature barely broke 81 oF before indulging in a banana daiquiri using fresh bananas from their tree in the backyard.  Their kids, remarking that it was reaching a balmy -10 oC in comparison did not feel any sympathy for their protestations of being “slightly chilly”.  Mr. J. and I enjoyed our mimosas while tucking into a generous plate of black eyed peas in Hoppin John, candied sweet potatoes, and corn pudding for a southern feast.  We cosied up in front of the fireplace, and thought ourselves brave to venture outside for a brisk walk to help with digestion. 

I updated my stash online, and exported the data out to an Excel file so that I have a “beginning” baseline for the year.  (for full disclosure, its close to 40,000 yards, all of it wonderful) I don’t have any grand plans of stash busting this year, rather I feel more like being footloose and fancy free, and we’ll see where the year takes me.  Once I receive my new day planner, which although I searched high and wide I could not find in town and finally ordered, I’ll get all my yarn written down in there as well in preparation for the satisfying red line when something is used up.  I swatched for my new sweater on January 1:

Originally I had plans of a percentage type cardigan knit in the round, with a generous shape for comfort.  Now that I’ve knit a swatch the plan has changed in my head to a sweater knit in pieces.  The hem will have small cables instead of ribbing, and I’m figuring out a nice pattern to go across the front and back.  I have some pink for accent, which will do nicely for a simple pattern.  My next step, now that I’ve chosen needle sizes and have my gauge swatch, is to make some sketches and then make a hat to try out some patterns.  This is the yarn purchased at the Olds Fibre fair this summer from Wild Geese, and is spun at the Prairie Fibre Mill in Saskatchewan.  I’m going for more of a weekend sweater, and hoping for warmth.  The grey yarn is flecked with blue and pink, and is a blend of merino, alpaca and silk.

In keeping with my footloose and fancy free feeling for the new year, I don’t have any specific resolutions.  I have some hopes and dreams, but sometimes you need to keep those close to your chest if you want them to come true!  Last year my resolution was to use a reuseable cup at least 50% of the time when visiting coffee shops, which both Mr. J and I were very good at doing.  We also saved thirty cents each time, so we made a rule that we could only get “fancy” coffee on the way to work if we had brought our mugs.  We will keep that up.  And in other exciting news, Mr. J got me a lattee holder for my cruiser bike, with a reuseable mug, I really can’t wait until the 10 feet of snow melt in our road so that I can cruise on up and get myself a fancy lattee, then cruise on home.  That is going to be good!!!

Countdown to Christmas!

In only 25 days!  I can’t wait, mostly as the office is shutting down and I get a whole blissful week off of work.  Last year I had so many plans of what I was going to do, and then I ended up collapsing on the chesterfield for a week, just worn out from a fall full of work.  Instead of exercising two hours a day, we went for walks.  It didn’t help that it was frigidly cold, and exposed skin frozen in under five minutes.  I’ve already made a number of Christmas presents for my family in Ontario, but now I’m going to get going on the rest!  I fully realize that the nine items I have on my list may not get done, and I’m probably overreaching myself since I need to make three things a week for the next three weeks, but I’m looking forward to working on (almost) all these projects.

From left to right:

1) My collection of leftover Classic Wool to be transformed into felted slippers, and perhaps some felted bowls filled with goodies?

2) Red angora blend to make into a bonny tam.

3) Leftover Ultra-alpaca to make into some Turn a Square Toques

4) Thrummed mittens for my skating coach.  The more pregnant she gets, the less she can move around to keep warm, and the colder the rinks are getting!

5) Superwash fingerling to make an Estonian vest for my second cousin.  This one will be fun as I will be attempting to take a mitten pattern and transform it into a vest for a toddler.  I don’t know if this will work, but if it does it will be so cute. 

6) A striped poncho for niece the elder.  She has pretty bluey eyes!

7) A lacey shrug for niece the younger, who declared purple her favorite colour.

8 ) Bella mittens for SIL.  Time allowing I hope to make liner mittens for these with fleece material, as even though this yarn feel soft, it may be too scratchy for her. 

Wish me luck, and let the knitting begin!  I started some thrummed mittens last night, and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH ALREADY!  I figure I’ll make my pair, screw up on those, then make the other pair for my skating coach.  I’m going to need them as things are about to get colder around here…

Pondering Gauge

Over the past year I’ve been working on a theory of gauge, specifically mine and how it relates to the rest of the knitters out there.  This theory is becoming useful to me, as it is helping me pick the right needles for specific yarn right off the bat, without going through numerous iterations of needle sizes or yarn for particular projects.  As always, what I’m about to hypothesize only pertains to my knitting, and is not a detriment to other peoples knitting styles.  Everyone knits their own way, in their own time, and exactly how they want to, and each and every one of them is right, okee dokee?

I begin by saying that I knit english style, and am a thrower.  Adding to that I don’t wrap the yarn around any fingers, I kinda hold it loosely between the thumb and forefinger of my right hand.  I knit this way simply because that’s the way my Mum taught me, and even if I’m a bit slower I do have nice even tension.  My theory has to do with knitters who knit with their left hand, continental style, or wrap the yarn tightly around their finger in order to maintain tension. 

Theory 1: As a result of putting the tension on the yarn from wrapping the yarn, larger needles are needed in order to achieve proper gauge, whilst I need smaller needles.  I’ve been noticing a trend that in certain patterns, and with certain designers now, I go down 1-2 mm in needle size and achieve the same tension. 

Theory 2: I don’t have a problem with the Noro sock yarns breaking on me, or really any yarns breaking on me, because I’m not  pre-tensioning the yarn as I knit it, just holding it.  I still love my Noro socks, a year after I made them.  (I also still need to sew some elastic in the tops, but that’s a whole other problem). 

Back to theory 1.  I first noticed this when I wanted to knit some Brooklyntweed patterns, and could not get over how big the needle sizes were.  Why did I need such small needles I wondered?  But now that I’ve noticed the trend I can mentally substitute the smaller needle and start my gauge swatch.  Also with the Ann Budd socks I recently completed, the interlocking cables.  The pattern calls for 3 mm needles, I instead cast on with my trusty size 1 needles (2.25 mm I believe) and went to town.  And by town I mean sock town. 

I would like to conclude this presentation of random theories on gauge with a shout out to Nancy Bush.  Mrs. Bush is also a thrower, and with every single pattern of hers I have ever attempted ( and by now that is a few) the needle size is right on for the gauge that I get.  Yet another reason to love her patterns!

Stop the Presses…

Okay, I had my weekend project all picked out, then I stopped at Gina Brown’s last night after picking my car up at the repair shop, a repair that cost me $2000 less than I was worried it was going to.  When does that ever happen?  My streak of unbelievable luck continued when the store had many copies of Made in Brooklyn, which I’ve been coveting for a couple of months now!  I smartly picked up three copies, one for me, two for friends, this book disappears fast!  This is a book in which I would like to make every single thing, excepting perhaps the ear muffs.  So, there I was in the store dancing an excited jig, when I spotted a copy of Verena, a European knitting magazine.  I was just discovering their gorgeous designs on line, the fall magazine has beautiful textured knits, whilst the Winter one (not yet available) has some incredible colourwork.  At this point I was positively gushing, but then I spotted Interweave Holiday Knits which looks pretty good this year.  I think I want some of the knitted balls to use as pillows. 

As much as I want to cast on immediately for the mittens, and one or two of the hats in the Brooklyn book, I think its going to have to become a reward for me.  If I can get a few things finished up, then I can cast on.  AND once I use up my stock of sweater yarn, I can start purchasing for a few of the sweaters in this book, they are all beautiful, and lucky for me they seem to be perfect for my figure.  Even the models look similar to my body type, I bet most of them have my 34b bust.  And of course his mens sweaters would be perfect for long and lean Mr. J if I ever start to knit for him.  This book is a keeper, and one to knit from for a long, long time, just not this weekend!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, looks like we aren’t too cold yet so we may get outside yet!

Instant Gratification Weekend Project

Has been found!  Check out this hat here: Qivuit Cap.  I think I will use the last bit of buffalo/silk that I have however to make it up.  The key is to have a yarn with a bit of a halo for this hat to work however, helps fill up the holes to make a cosy head.  It is nice at the end of the weekend to be able to hold up a finished object, rather than point to an extra 6 inches of sleeve!  Makes one feel right pleased with their productive weekend (to come).  The jury is still out whether this will go into the Christmas box or not, right now I’m smitten with the design and may just have to keep it (and make 3 more).