summertime

when this is your definition of fun:

You definitely need to follow it up with a little bit of this:

hope you're having a good summer!

sock-tastrophe

i have no idea what happened. i was knitting away on my toe-up sock, cruising through the short row heel. YOing, K2tog, turning, etc, etc, all seemed to be going so well. but it was taking me forever to work through all those paired stitches. And then it hit me. Somewhere, somehow -- there were 3x as many stitches in that heel than needed. whoops. big whoops.

i've never messed up a heel before. after i knit my first pair of socks, i scoffed at all the 'turning the heel' drama that intimidated me from sock knitting for the longest time. and here i am. with some heel-turning-drama of my own.

it's so disappointing. i hate to rip, but i have no choice but to back it up and start over some night when i'm a little more focused i guess. for now i think i'll put it aside and concentrate on casting on for one of my new projects.

speaking of new projects. the postman brought me the yarn for a few of the projects that i've been obsessing over. #1 - Arisaig from knitty.com. This will be my second Ysolda pattern, I actually did her skull illusion scarf a few years back. I anticipate that this will be a 'reach' for me in terms of stretching my knitting skills. It's a challenge and i'm feeling a little intimidated, but i love the look of the sweater. The yarn called for in the pattern was on closeout at Knitting Garden, so at least i'm not out a million dollars if it should go to heck. yarn shown below with new Craft which also appeared today. colors are not very true at all.

my other obsession is Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits book. I heard the buzz, saw some of the finished sweaters and decided that it would be a good book for me. and it is. i even made it to an actual, live yarn store to try to find the yarn to knit one of the designs that I was into (short sleeved cardigan and textured tunic were my favorites). but they didn't have anything that would work that i liked. so back to the internet and I found some RYC Soft Tweed on closeout at Webs. and here it is. lusciously soft yarn. I immediately began swatching for what will hopefully become the textured tunic. we'll see how the swatch goes.

BTW - both the Knitting Garden and Webs shipped my order extremely fast. I was very pleased and will consider ordering from both shops again.

And finally, to take you out. A view of our front garden and the adirondack chairs that a friend made for us this spring.

toe-up sock progress and swatching

The toe-up sock is growing. faster than I might have thought. At this point it's just p2k2 over and over again for another 7 inches or so.

yesterday while running i made some knitting resolutions. i want to knit more sweaters, but the finishing and seeming of sweaters makes me nervous. so resolution #1 - knit more sweaters so that i get good at the finishing and it no longer makes me queasy. #2 - it's okay to have some stash yarn. sometimes you need to knit up a project and it's nice to be able and go pull somthing else from the stash. Still not sure that i'll ever let it grow beyond the one bin, but i think i need to feel okay about having any sort of stash at all.

I've been thinking about my next big project. I bought the book Fitted Knits, and there are three projects in there that I'd really like to do. But I'm having some troubles finding the right yarn online. I even went to a real live yarn store and they didn't have the yarn in the pattern or anything that would be an okay substitute. At some point I'll try another local yarn store, I think the Knitting Studio carries Cascade 128.

During this process I stumbled upon the yarn for Arisaig from knitty, on sale. and so i bought it. there are some beautiful finished examples on Flickr and i hope that i can knit something of that order. time to get cracking on those socks so that I'm ready when this new yarn shows up.here's k learning to ride the pump track at Catamount.

Toe Up Socks

Socks from the toe up. One of my running friends sent me a lovely package last month with some sock yarn and a copy of Interweave Knits which features a big section on knitting socks from the toe up. I'm keen to make a nice long pair of socks and have been wanting to learn something new, so I cast on. Again and again. That eastern cast on is a bit tricky. It's not the neatest toe, but it does look nice and smooth. Once these are off the needles I think I'll be able to smooth things over a little bit.

Apparently some people like the toe-up method because they don't have to Kitchner stitch the toe. Grafting never bothers me. It's kind of fun and it's totally cool to make a toe look like a smooth knit. But remember, I also Kitchner'ed the entire Lace Leaf Pullover sweater body and even before that when i was knitting all those Woolly Wonder Perfection Shorts - loads of grafting. So it's just something that I don't mind.

Perfection Shorts

K was essentially potty trained by the beginning of last summer, so it feels like I'm a long way out from diapers and all the soakers that i was once making. one of my friends on the running group recently had a little boy and i've been wanting to make her something.
These are the Wooly Wonder Perfection Pants in approximately a size small. Knit with very soft 100% wool from the stash and trimmed with Trelisk organic merino. The body was knit on #9's.

A quick shot of our garden as it finally starts to come into bloom. in a few days the purple coneflowers will bloom and then it will really start to pop.

RIPhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Afterthought socks. Knitted in a gorgeous hand dyed alpaca fingering yarn that I picked up at the Sheep and Wool Festival almost two years ago.

One finished. the second started but I just don't like #1. They're too tight around. The pattern is best suited for someone with smaller feet. And someone with stretchier yarn. I don't think i'll ever wear these, should i finish them.

But i'm not going to finish them. I'm going to rip up the one in progress and try to find something else for this gorgeous yarn.

Photos from Catamount

Noro Tea Cozyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Pattern: Kureyon Kozy from Knitty small version 1
Yarn: Noro Kureyon
Needles: as per the pattern

Notes: I followed the pattern as best as I could. Frankly, although there was nothing difficult here, I had a hard time with the pattern instructions. It could have been written more clearly. Side 1 shows some of the difficulties that I was having. I even frogged to try to fix it, and I never frog anything. Loved the Kureyon, the colors are beautiful.

The finished product is cute and practical and it really does keep the tea warmer longer.

local yarn shop shout-out

On Wednesday I found myself in Montpelier with Keiran and a little time on our hands. He had just put in an amazing performance at the dentist. Honestly, he should win an oscar for "best impersonation of a good, non-wiggly little boy" for his behavior there. So I decided to try a visit to the local yarn store, The Knitting Studio. I have to give them a huge thumbs up. The woman was happy to see us, very welcoming and friendly. They have a big bin of toy cars for the little guy and he plunked down and ate his snack and happily played cars for 30 minutes while i went around and petted the yarn. A few other customers came in, also very nice and in the end it was a great experience, even with my three year old.

Though I'm trying to dutifully knit through my stash, I couldn't leave without a little something so I picked up a little sock yarn. Hopefully this will work for Clessidra, but even if no I'm sure I can find a use for it.The Child's Placket-neck Pullover is coming along slowly. It's all baseball knitting a little bit at the end of the night. So slowly it will come together. K. misplaced his handknit brown tunic sweater at preschool today. We searched the room and the playground and couldn't turn it up, but hopefully the teachers will be able to find it. I'd hate to see all that gorgeous brown organic wool go missing.

stash knitting

I've not been a prolific poster lately. Honestly, the whole bike jersey thing. The advent of spring. The overwhelmingness of it all has left me with little to post about. Even though the bike shop business has been doing better than I might have expected, it's still meant that I've had to dip into the proceeds from my soap business for things like groceries and gas for the car. In the past that's been my fun fund. Allowing me to get yarn and other goodies as I wanted, but when you have to choose between cereal for the kid or a little yarn porn - you make the right choice.

it's nothing but stash knitting for me for right now. it's not a bad thing. it's a stash of lots of one or 1.5 skeins of lots of variagated natural fibers. You can see it here:

that's it. All in one container. there are some FO's in there as well. things that I'm not sure what to do with. things that I knitted for my next baby who will probably never be conceived that I should give to someone who is actually having that next baby but i won't give them away because i think that they're wonky in some way and can't tell until i try them on that 'next' baby of mine because another person's baby shouldn't be subjected to my wonky knits. phwew. breathe.

but i am knitting now. a placket pullover thingy from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for my son. Using Wool of the Andes in the miscellaneous colors that I have.
hoping i have enough of all three to finish a cohesive piece. but it doesn't really matter. he wears anything. there's lots of knitting and baseball watching going on these evenings. trying to not burn out on all the other stresses.

jersey thoughts

We're designing jersey's for the bike shop (finally!!) but i'm so stressed out trying to ensure that they'll look good. Here are a few of the ideas that we've come up with so far. We're inspired by vintage cycling jerseys and want to keep it simple and not so cluttered. Let me know your thoughts.
Edited to add one other version. Please feel free to leave any comments.

a different sort of knitters tea swap

a dear friend came for a visit a few weeks ago. she's been a good friend and a house mate and we've had loads of lovely times together. unfortunately we now live very, very far apart and our visits are far too infrequent.

a few weeks after her visit, imagine my suprise to arrive home to two packages from her. the first, a collection of teas from SBS Teas and the second a parcel of Lion Boucle yarn. Whether she knew it or not, she had just sent a perfect tea swap package and very apropos considering my obsession with both tea and knitting.

Monkey Socks

Voila! the finished Monkey Socks.
Pattern: Monkey Socks from Knitty
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (can't remember what shade exactly)
Needles: #2 dpns

I really enjoyed this pattern. It was easy to follow, hard to mess up and I'm enjoying the finished product a lot. The one change that I made was that I only used 4 needles. I like needle 1 to have half the stitches, and 2 and 3 to split the remainder. i like this configuration especially once the whole heel and gusset bits begin. The yarn was super easy to work. I haven't washed them yet, so I can't report on how they hold up.

little guy socks

i used the leftover yarn from my socks to make some for the little guy. sorry about the photo, three year old boys are not known for sitting still to pose for pictures of their new socks. still, i like his socks better than mine in that the color didn't pool at all and overall it's a nicer effect. i didn't use a pattern, 2x rib and make it all up as i went along. they won't fit for long, but they're cute for now.

hills

Laceleaf Pullover progress - almost there

lest you think i gave up blogging for lent, i'm back. these past few weeks have been filled with traveling, family emergencies, work, soap business, and least of all - tax preparation. this is the first year with the bike business and though i haven't been involved in the books all year long, taxes fall under my umbrella. this has meant spending a lot of time to figure out just what was going on. but we're almost at the finish line with those. Normally I like to have the taxes done much earlier, but i'll still be happy that i'm not filing on the last possible day.

So what has been going on?

Laceleaf Pullover Progress:
sorry for the dismal photo. we're about to get another 18" of snow and the sky is all grey and nasty. Overall, i like it. I like the shape of the sweater. I like the yarn. It didn't really do anything with the leaf pattern, so i just didn't do anymore after the bottom hem. You can't tell anyway. All that's left to do is weave in ends, find a button for the neck flap, fix the dropped stitch that I just found and give it a litte wash. and then wear it. i think i'll wear this one.

My other project is the Monkey Socks from Knitty. The yarn is the Koigu that I blogged about earlier. These are going really, really, really slowly. But the taxes really took a bite out of my knitting time. The pattern is cool. Not hard per se, but it keeps your attention.
It's been hard to pay attention though, because I've been watching this:
I know I'll catch a lot of crap for it, but I remember watching it as a kid and I was so enthralled by Jan Michael Vincent. I read the books a few years ago and tried to score the videos off of ebay, but they were going for hundreds of dollars. Now the dvds are on Netflix. And I'll tell you, whatever i saw in JMV when I was 8 - it's still there.

baby stuff knitted

A little while ago I posted pictures of a sage green WIP baby bolero from One Skein, and I guess it never got it's finished photo taken. Too late now as it's off to it's new home and it's still nearly two months until this baby plans to arrive. I brought my knitting to the baby shower and quickly whipped up the coordinating hat (see above) out of Blue Sky Cotton. I just guessed on the # of stitches to cast on, and guessed on the decreases and really I don't think the baby will mind that I've never figured out how to do the jogless join neatly and thus gave up on it halfway through her hat.
The other baby project on the needles are these booties in leftover sock yarn. Based on the ubiquitous booty pattern, I changed the garter stitch rows because I prefer a smoother knit. This one isn't complete yet, there are still a few ends to weave in and really with this varigated yarn it's hard to get a feel for the actual booty - all you see is COLOR!!! The second booty is started, the sole is complete but I somehow lost a couple of my #2 dpns during my last travels. I did have Susan Bates metal dpns but think that I'll replace those with bamboo just as soon as I can get to the yarn store.

Big Snow Pictures

Here are some pics from our big Valentine's Day storm. Above and below: midday during the meat of the storm.

Having a quick treat.

The aftermath. Snowplow stuck in the driveway, trees and bushes buried.

Huge snowbanks and lots of snow to move around.

I know our house is behind that snow somewhere.

Laceleaf Pullover progress

Progress is being made on the Laceleaf Pullover. My main goal for today was the grafting. I'm not afraid of a little kitchener stitch, but this was 102 stitches of kitchener - which is frankly quite a lot. It took me the better part of two hours to get it all done, with breaks and everything and it looks pretty good. This yarn hides it well. I experimented with two different routines, and for this yarn I like slipping the stitch and then priming the next before pulling the yarn all the way through. it just looked more natural that way.

the body is really long because i have a wicked long torso (and short stubby legs). after viewing everyone else's pullover on their blogs, i was really afraid of the sweater being too short and too tight so i made the medium version and added to the length and at this point i like the look - very tunic-y.
here's a shot of the photo area coming together. we're putting together an area to take pics of the bikes and parts and so forth - but this requires much gear. most of it pricey. so it's coming together slowly but surely. the second light showed up today. that in conjunction with adjusting the white levels on the camera itself should help us get much better photos. the next step is figuring out how to hang the 14' roll of background paper so that we can shoot entire bikes.

new cars