testing

is this still working?

Treeline Cardigan - not finished yet

I bookmarked the Treeline Cardigan eons ago. And it took me eons to clear out my WIP progress and collect the yarn (malabrigo) to get it started. Now that it's begun, it's flying along.
Two sleeves are done. The waistband is finished and i've begun the stripes of the body. really having fun with some fast knitting for a change.

Arisaig is Finished

8 months, plus or minus. Finally Arisaig is finished. I used the same yarn and needles as suggested in the pattern. The only mod was to make the ribbing a little bit longer. I have big arms, so had no problems with my sleeves being too big for my arms. But they were too big for the armholes and I had to rip back 1.5 inches to get my sleeve in there.

This was my first seamed sweater. Seaming? Not really that bad. 80" of tie? Not really that bad. The worst and slowest part of this project were the sleeves.

I think it looks good on me. It feels good to wear it and i think that this sweater will get a lot of use. I'm so pleased with myself - an entire sweater with all this lace, on #1 and #2 needles - it's done and I did a good job. Well done me!

hard at work

sorry for the radio silence. i've been hard at work. working on a project I can't blog about yet. working on moving the bike shop. Working on all those little things involved in moving a business. Working on planning a couple of bike events in our town. Working on doing a good job with my 'pays-the-bills' job. Working to keep my soap customers happy. And still trying to be a good mama and give my little Star Wars fan the attention he needs.

Here he is recreating the final battle of Empire Strikes Back

I have to be honest. There's not much time for anything else. The house is a pigsty. The laundry is suffocating. Used to be I was at least home a couple of afternoons to deal with the house, now I'm working at the shop. I'm trying not to let it get me down, I wish I had 30 minutes a day to keep up with things. But you have to choose, dinner or cleaning?

Never fear. I'm meeting someone on Monday who will hopefully help with the housework. And I think I'm going to have a stay-at-home-mom friend help me with the soap business.
What I have been slowly finishing is my Arisaig. It was put on the back burner for the special project. But I've finished that and now I'm finishing the ties and the seaming. should have some FO photos in a little while.

80" of 1x1 rib over 7 stitches

malabrigo booties

are these not the cutest things? Little baby booties out of malabrigo with itty vintage buttons.
They were so quick to knit, I swear I had the first one finished in the time it took my husband to cook his breakfast bacon. I want to try them out in a not-so-varigated colorway and make them a smidge bigger. These appear to be newborn sized. They might also be nice in cotton for spring/summer babes.

and, so you know i'm not slacking. here's the sleeve. i'm getting about an inch done every night - so not far and not fast, but it's still moving along.

finished socks

Pattern: Inspired by Dobby's socks in Charmed Knits, but the heel and toe are done per Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks.
Yarn: Alpaca Design 80% Alpaca, 20% silk from Australia
Needles: #1 Susan Bates metal DPNs
Notes: I ran out of yarn part way through the 2nd sock. Luckily, the woman who sent the yarn in the first place for a swap was able to find some more within her stash and agreed to send it to me. The stripes made for wicked fast knitting, but note the extra thick green stripe on the green heel/toe sock. I didn't quite think the strip thing through on that one, but had it dialed for sock #2.
I'm wearing them now and they are wicked soft and warm. A little bit thick, but that's perfect to fit in my slippers and clogs on a snowy day like today.

soap soap soap soap soap

so part of keeping my soap business means making a lot of soap. here's the first batch. 9 absolutely gorgeous logs of wool wash soap. they turned out brilliant and i will have only a few 2nd quality bars. This entire pile of soap plus one equally as large will be headed off to Green Mountain Diapers. Seems she sells quite a few of these. So many that I actually struggle to keep her in stock. Thankfully Karen has been very understanding and continues to order from me.
There's been a bit of knitting. More sock yarn arrived from Australia so I've been working away on my striped socks. On Saturday night I was having a bit of wine with my knitting, and somehow skipped a very important step of the heel. whoops. So i put the whole thing down and got myself back on the straight and narrow the next morning and it's coming along quite nicely.

Funny thing about the stripes, I do believe that they make boring ol' stocking stitch fly right by.
Hey, what's this? Hello second sleeve for Arisaig.
(sarcasm)You're practically knitting yourself it's going so quickly (/sarcasm)

we have sleeve

one sleeve down.

that took forever. and i still have yet another sleeve to go. onward.

this is taking forever.

Oh Arisaig. You are taking forever. I cast on in August. Little by little I've completed the right front, the left front and even the back. Then I put you aside for a while. For months you languished in my knitting basket - not sleeping, still a work in progress, just not progressing.

Last week I pulled you out wondering just how much I had to do and low an behold I've only got to finish TWO sleeves to be done. Two little sleeves. Narrow things without many stitches, what was I waiting for. Let me tell you something, those sleeves are little devils. All lace, no ribbing, it's taking me forever! I thought that I might be able to breeze through the sleeves before resting again on this project. But nope. I think, after I finish sleeve one it will be time for a little break again. At this rate this sweater will be done in time for wrap sweaters to come back around in style - in 20 years.

and there's still the matter of the trim and the blocking and the seaming. sigh.

you may have noticed a little more posting from me. I took the past two months off from the soap company. Having trouble finding time to do it all. In fact, the soap business is officially for sale. But I keep getting emails from customers who NEED to have salve or lotion or something, so I had to open my doors again. And of course, talking to potential buyers has made me more excited about the business.

So, until I have someone who wants to love it as much as I do we're back in business. I think i'm going to work on refining it a bit more and concentrating on the products that I do best. But it is nice to feel wanted by customers out there.

temptations

it's so rare that I get to meander into a yarn shop and just poke around. but yesterday I found myself in the 'city' with some time on my hands. I stopped into Northeast Fiber Arts Center and poked around -- there's nothing i really need right now. I had no projects planned. I thought maybe i'd pick up some trim yarn for a collaborative project.

but this was calling my name. isn't the color divine?

Sock patterns that I'm thinking of, at this moment include:

Earl Grey by the Yarn Harlot
BFF Socks
Perambulate
Vinnland
Estonian Button Stitch Socks

knitting footwear

At Christmas I participated in a yarn swap over on Ravelry. My partner sent me two skeins of alpaca/silk sock weight yarn in very yummy colors. A trip to the library resulted in scoring a copy of Charmed Knits (projects for fans of Harry Potter) which just so happened to have a pattern for jolly striped socks.

I cast on during a plane trip to TX, and the flight attendant was most impressed. If you're out here Wonderful Jet Blue Flight Attendant, I hope you were brave enough to cast on those circular projects and knit those hats! Anyway, one sock flew off my needles the second quickly following suit - but OH NO! I ran out of green yarn 25% of the way through sock #2. Nearly out of pink yarn as well I hit the internet looking to pick up a couple of other skeins and nothing. I cannot find this yarn! Here's hoping my swap partner is able to score a couple of extra skeins for me.
Project #2 are these footies that were a request from a friend. Over the years she had been the recipient of heaps of these style slippers from the grandmother of a roomate, she requested a pair in black so that she could wear them on the plane during her frequent travels. Done in Wool Ease, she can throw them in the washer without care.

A pretty quick knit, however the pattern she supplied was not without it's challenges. There was a long stretch of alternating rows of K9 P11 K9 and K10 P9 K10 -- and I could not keep it straight. Each footies had to be ripped back 10+ rows because I messed up. Each row I found myself counting bumps from the row before to figure out how much I had to knit for that row.

new art

I can be so tempted while surfing around Etsy. Last week, while following a link originally found on Decor8 - i stumbled upon a beautiful ceramic bowl and had to have it.

It came beautifully wrapped (love the look of the bag, I may get inspired by this for Hug-a-dub-dub) and I love the finished piece.This will hopefully soon become part of an artful display of 'plates' on the dining room wall. Thank You Paloma's Nest!

Another fave on Etsy is Tabbatha Henry. I bought one of her pendants from her studio at christmas and always get compliments on it whenever I wear it.

Puff Sleeved Cardigan - Fitted Knits

A second finished project in one week! this may be a record for me.
Project: Puff Sleeved Feminine Cardigan by Stephanie Japel in Fitted Knits (ravelry link)
Yarn: Auracania Nature Wool in a dark blue
Needles: Size 6 mainly, a little bit of Size 5
Notes: I swatched for this. really I did. I chose size 5 needles as the appropriate size to get the right fabric. BUT - for some reason when I went to knit this sweater, I picked up the #6's and cast-on and didn't realize my mistake until I was 1/2 way through the first ball of yarn. So I just kept going.

It's not too terrible. The fabric is a little too drapey for the pattern and the whole thing ended up bigger than necessary and therefore not really 'fitted.' The first skein of yarn was very different from the following skeins. I liked the first one best, very little variation of color. The bottom half is a little more varigated than I had thought.

The peplum kind of looks like an afterthought, it's a bit bizarre but I do like it and I'm glad I did it and it's done.

January knitting

K's been asking for me to knit him a sweater for a long time. So, before christmas I took him to the yarn store and let him pick the color yarn (reddish brown Harrisville New England Highland) and over the holidays I cast on for the Children's Hooded Tunic #232. I did one of these already and liked the pattern and the result.

What seems like a million years later, but actually less than a month, turns out that there wasn't enough yarn for the hood (BIG disappointment!) but truly he's happy to have a new sweater all of his own.

Needles: 8 and 6
Mods: just the garter stitch neck instead of a hood.

couple of other quick picks. I did a yarn swap on Ravelry for the holidays and scored this precious alpaca/silk sock yarn from my pal in Australia. I love it and the socks are going to be tres chic.
My favorite christmas gift? This big, posh Emma Bridgewater tea pot. It also came with two matching mugs. Thank you UK Father Christmas! This is my new weekend teapot, it's a little too big for a weekday morning when i have to run out the door so quickly, but it's perfect for a wonderful Sunday morning with the family.

where are they now? revisiting past projects...

I thought it might be fun to take a look at some past projects and see what they've been up to lately. First up - Monkey Socks. I swear, when I knit these no one else had done them yet. I had the hardest time finding any FO's on the web to look at, and at that time Ravelry didn't exist for me.

I like these socks. the color is fabulous but I think they should have been knit on #1's not #2's. they're a bit saggy and baggy and you can see that we have some yarn breakage. i liked the KPPPM - but haven't really wanted to go out and buy more based on the performance from this sock.
Sock Monkey - yes, it's supposed to be a bear but somewhere along the way this got named 'sock monkey'. the pattern is from Jess Hutch's book of knitted toys which is apparently out-of-print and highly coveted. I'm glad I have a copy as my son loves this monkey. it gets loads of love and cuddles all the time and is close to becoming 'real' a la the velveteen rabbit.
It's made with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes which has held up really well, just a little bit of pilling. The eyes don't work so well. I got the kind suggested, but think that my knitting was a bit loose and they push in all the time which has led to some panic on the part of a little boy.

peep peep

This little guy will be my mascot at the upcoming craft shows. My logo includes a cute little duck, but this fellow is a little bit more 'natural' than the traditional rubber duck. Only, he wouldn't be a very good bathtime friend.

Pattern: Easter Peeps by Kat Knits (free on her blog)
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton in yellow
Needles: #4 dpns

Notes: a quick, easy and fun knit. I changed the bind off on the wings to get a more feathered effect. Next time I knit this I will fill the base with some beans or something to give it more stability for sitting. K has quickly decided that I made this for him, so I had to discretely steal it back this morning to get photos and grab it for the show tomorrow.

center square hat for a toddler

Pattern: Center Square from Knitty
Yarn: Main color is Mountain Colors Sweet Grass Wool 2 ply in Missouri River Blue. Contrasting color is Araucania Nature Wool Bulky
Needles: #9
Notes: I used one strand of the Mountain colors and used the Nature wool doubled. I knit this on smaller needles than called for so it would fit the little guy.

Jaywalker Socks Finished

Pattern: Jaywalker Socks
Needles: #1 Susan Bates metal dpns
Size: to fit my size 9 feet
Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight in Fire on the Mountain Colorway - almost one full skein
Notes: nearly everyone who knits socks has already knit this pattern, and I see why. It's simple, looks interesting, works well with all the nifty varigated yarns out there and it just fits well. This pattern is easy enough for a beginning knitter, but interesting enough for anyone.

Queen City Craft Bazaar

I'm so excited that I'm going to be part of the Queen City Craft Bazaar on December 1 in Burlington. I'm busy finishing up all my soaps and things to have a great table. Hope to see you there.

Knitted Bunting: a pattern

I'm planning to participate in several craft shows this holiday season including the Queen City Craft Bazaar which is much cooler and more indie than anything I've done in the past. It threw me into a spin trying to think of how to make my table space cooler and more indie and I decided that I needed to have a knitted sign. I've seen a lot of sewn bunting out there and thought that a knitted bunting would be tres cool. so here we are...


Materials:
Worsted weight yarn (I used Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton in three colors)
size 7 16" circular needle
size 6 double pointed needles
tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Instructions:
Cast on 25 stitches with larger needles
knit two rows plain
Begin Stockingette stitch pattern:
Knit 2 stitches, purl 21 stitches, knit final two stitches. This row and every other row (the purl rows) - Knit the first and last two stitches so the edge is in garter stitch.
Next row: knit all stitches
Next row: K2,P21, K2
Begin decreasing:
Row 1: K2, SSK, K until last four stitches, K2Tog, K2
Row 2: K2, purl to last two stitches, K2
Row 3: K all stitches
Row 4: K2, purl to last two stitches, K2

repeat rows 1-4 until there are three stitches between garter stitch sections. end with Row 4.
K2, Slip 1 knitwise, K2tog, PSSO, K2
K2, purl 1, K2
K all
K2, purl 1, K2

K1, Slip 1 knitwise, K2tog, PSSO, K1
next three rows, K all stitches

Slip 1 knitwise, K2tog, PSSO
K1
end.

Knit as many flags as you need. Embellish with duplicate stitch as is your preference. My letters are about 17 stitches high. They start 5 stitches from the top of the flag and the serif reaches to the garter stitches on the sides.


To join the flags.
Cast on three stitches to your smaller dpns and knit icord for 8 to 10 inches.
Then begin applied i cord (there's an excellent write up on this technique at the Keyboard Biologist) Knit 1 stitch, kfb, slip one knitwise, pick up and knit first stitch of flag, pass slipped stith over. slide work to end of right hand dpn and repeat until you've reached the end of that flag.

K1, K2tog, K1 and continue to knit i cord for five more rows. Begin next flag. repeat until all flags are hung and finish with an appropriate amount of icord.