A word to the wise.

If you make yourself a set of blocking wires, and a nifty PVC pipe capped on both ends to keep them in, if you don't open it for a couple of years, the caps will. not. come. off.

At least, nothing I've tried yet has worked.  Any ideas?

Oh, woman, contrary is thy name . . .

So, I have the hardest time knitting with alpaca laceweight.  I've tried (and frogged) a number of projects, from a simple feather & fan scarf to an aborted Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl.  So, would you please tell me why it is that I happen to have 8,333 yards of 100% alpaca laceweight in my stash?  Hmmmm?

I must be more of a sucker for a good hand than I thought. ;o)

A Rare Sighting

After publishing that last post, I caught sight of something in the library . . .



Hold on a second, I thought. What could that be? Knitting? Actual blog fodder???

Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a wad of lace. Would you like to see?



Well, like it or not, you get to. ;o) Dear blog reader, may I introduce you to the Old Shale Scarf?



(She's charmed.)

I'm not sure if I was influenced subconsciously by all of the Clap knitting that has been going on, but I cast on for this about a month ago. I wanted to knit up this gorgeous wool/silk blend from Sheep Shop yarns, and I wanted something for me to ward off the coming chilly, wet winter. (But please remember--I'm thrilled down to the bottom of my little knitter's heart that it's not a freezing, snowy one!)

I've been wanting to knit something in Old Shale for a while . . . my grandmother, who passed away just over two years ago, knit a baby blanket for me in a garter variation of Old Shale. (Knit every row instead of making row four purl.) My daughters now love that blanket, and I wanted to make something for me to carry around, too. ;o) I miss my grandmother, and I find myself wanting to have things around me that remind me of her.



I'm just over halfway through . . . unless it turns out that I'm really just over a third through. I may made it a little too wide to get enough length out of the two skeins of Sheep Shop Three I bought at Apple Yarns in Bellingham, so I've got to decide if I:

1. Rip the entire thing out and start again with 1/3 fewer stitches (more thrifty, but waaaaaay more work, and not as smooshy and luxuriant a scarf at the end), or

2. Call Andrea and have her send me another skein from the same dyelot, if she has any more. (I surely hope she does, because otherwise I'm a stuck knitter, aren't I?)

And I want you to know I'm totally open to suggestions. Please do fire away . . .

Sob

So, back in early May when I read Amy's blog post about Ravelry, I went over to the Ravelry site and added myself to the waiting list. When I read Melanie's post today, announcing that she received her invite, I went over to check my progress.

I'm not there.

No email address of mine showed up. Zippo. Nada. In desperation I added my email. That's three months I could have been on the waiting list. At the Unraveled blog today, the waiting list count is 15,422. That "2" at the end is me. (On the "antsy" status-checker page, it says I have 15,421 people ahead of me.) So, at roughly 1200/week (according to Ravelry's Casey), I've only got 12.85 weeks to go. {sob}


I'm being a big girl about it, but it's hard.





At least I can still knit . . .



Er, I mean, at least I can still knit . . .



Oops, that wasn't it, either . . . Maybe this?



Fiddlesticks. Ummmm . . .



I mean, at least I can still knit . . .



This is getting embarassing. One last time.

At least I can still knit!



Ahhh. There it is. ;o)

Adding beads to knitting.

Well, as I tried to think of a clearer way to explain adding beads to knitwork, I realized it was a losing battle. So, I went for the 1,000,000,000,000 word approach. Video.

Without further ado, here 'tis.



I know there's no sound . . . it took me several tries to do it this smoothly. When I'm just knitting on my own, I have no trouble. When the camera's going, I'm all jittery. I figure it speaks loudly enough on it's own, though. ;o) This is hosted over at Google Video, (click here to go to it there), and if you'd like to put it in your blog, or email a link to a friend, that's fine with me. I do ask that you include a link to my blog if you do so. Thanks so much.

So, does that make more sense now, CCR? Hope so. :o)

I'm off to get dinner ready so I can go knit tonight. It has almost been a MONTH since I've been to the Tuesday UFO night, and I'm ready to get back into it.

Have a good one!

Bead Happy

I need to stop. This is seriously eating into my knitting time.

Here is most of a set I made a while back. The colors are really a pretty mauve/purple there in the middle, with the one on the right a dark mauve purple, and the four on the left irridescent dark burgundy. (I've gotta get me some medium gray background material. This brown stuff is horrible!) But be that as it may, I just love these little markers. They're teeny tiny, and only fit up to a US6; but I still love them.



Here's the roaming marker in that set. (Please ignore the fingerprint on the bead! lol)



One of the tonal blue set I made at the same time. (Ugh. Brown stuff must go. That seed bead is a wonderful, irridescent amber. Not whatever color that is.) This set has cobalt and deep periwinkle markers. I love making big sets of stitch markers with some variety. They're so fun to see hanging all together.



Oh, and here's the WIP they're all on. It's Knitting Daily's Summer Shawlette. (If you can't see the pattern, it means you need to get with the program and sign up for Knitting Daily already. ;o) That's Nature Wool in a wonderful garnet colorway on 6mm KP Options. (US10.) I wish I had bought a Whole Lot More when I got that single skein. We'll see if it's enough to make a full shawlette, or just a wide, crescent-shaped scarf.



And, meanwhile, my sweet MS3 waits patiently, cozying up behind the Nature Wool. (I feel a little funny posting photos of blurred charts--it's like there's nudity to hide! ;oP)



Just when you thought my bead frenzy was over, what did I do tonight instead of knitting on MS3?

I made more . . .



I'm going to take some better photos in natural light. These are light baby pink. Wonderful, make you smile, girly pink; and two barely distinguishable light lavender cubes tossed in for variety. You can see the roaming marker, as well as the round marker with the fun dangle. The fringe beads on that dangle are irridescent light purple . . . pretty enough to make you cry. So, have some hankies ready for tomorrow's post. ;o)

And lastly, this is what I saw out of my window tonight, and then walked barefoot in the cool grass to catch.



I just love poofy pink sunsets. Don't you?

MS3 Update - Clue one finished.

No, that wasn't a typo. ;o) I was surprised at how quickly the last few (okay, 10) rows went today. I really wanted to spend some nice time knitting quietly, and did all I could during naps today. I even got to snatch a few minutes this morning working on the forlorn FCSS. It's looking really good--I did a steam block a while back to see how it was turning out, and I really like the drape of that Knit Picks Shadow lace merino. Knitting on the MS3 has made me think a lot about how lace goes together, and it has made continuing on the FCSS a lot more straightforward. I finally, really and truly, understand how yarnovers fit into things, and how to watch as I knit each row to make sure that the previous right-side row's yarnovers are incorporated into the proper, increasing, portions of the shawl.

Oh, but this was supposed to be about my MS3. Right.

Here she is!


Wow. For some reason, the pattern stands out a whole lot better in the photo than in real life. I really like it! :o) This is JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk laceweight in Vanilla from Sarah's Yarns.

Here's a closeup of my cream soda seed beads:



They stood out much better before I uploaded the pic. Hmmmm. Anyway, you get the idea.

Here's how I'm managing my charts:



In order to honor Melanie's copyright of the pattern, I blurred it sufficiently to obscure the chart. I did try to let you see how I've marked off the rows on the left side. I've also written in row numbers so when I'm flipping the chart keeper over, it's easier to make sure that I've got the magnets positioned properly.

Here's a closeup of some of my chart technique. I write in the number of knit stitches when they appear in clumps, putting the number in the first knit stitch box after a pattern stitch. (Well, they're all part of the pattern, but you know what I mean.) It makes it so much faster to knit! It's also easier to keep my place as I'm looking back and forth from the chart to my knitting. Since I'm stuck with a black & white printer, I also write in B's where the beads should go. Otherwise it's hard to remember to not put them in every right-side center stitch. ;o)



And that, dear knitters and friends, is where my Mystery Stole sits for now. I've got the next clue (#2) printed out, and ready for notation and cropping to get it ready to go on the chart keeper for my next stint.

Have a great night!

MS3 Update - Still on Clue 1

But I'm making progress. I've made it past the first chart!


I know that my stole will probably be a bit skinny, but I just couldn't go up a needle size. The stitch definition was just too good on the 2's, and I love being able to see so much detail. The design really pops now. I can't wait to see what it's like blocked. To keep myself occupied when I'm wanting to knit lace, but can't give the MS charts the attention they need, I've started a feather & fan scarf in Alpaca Cloud. (I'm gonna get good with that slippery stuff, come wool blight or high water.) Four row repeats, only one of which is patterned. Knit, purl, pattern, knit. Repeat. Love it. Well, I love how simple the lace pattern is. I'm not so sure about how well I'll like the look of the scarf . . . I'm using US6 Takumi straights, and I'm hoping that the pattern shows up better once it's blocked. (I might also be purchasing some Bryson Distributing straights today in a smaller size. We'll see. ;o)


And, I just finished a Vine Lace Baby Hat for a friend's new one:

It should be dry by tomorrow (don't you love how loooooong it takes cotton to dry?), and I'll post it after that. I wonder if I'll get to see a photo of little Sarah in her hat. ;o)

And now, it's off to town for a day of errands. I'm so glad the kids get to visit with Grandma while I take care of it all.

Have a great day!

MS3 - The beginning

When my swatching yarn arrived on Monday, I started right in. Well, sort of. I had a bunch o' stuff to do, so I started as soon as I possibly could . . . which was 9:30 Tuesday morning. (But I was knitting it in my mind almost all day. Have you ever done that?) After finishing a swatch that was too open with a US3 KP Classic circular, I went down to a US2, (I'm gonna learn the metric sizes for these things--I'm tired of typing "US"! lol), and here's what happened:

Not bad, eh? The first repeat was a little shaky, but I finally got into a rhythm during the second repeat, and that's what I'm going for in the stole.

When I tracked my FedEX package this morning from Fire Mountain, my heart sank. My beads for MS3 (and a gorgeous array of other goodies that you'll see another day), were scanned as departing Portland Tuesday night at 10-something, and then scanned as departing Portland at 8:52 this morning. AUUUUGH!!!! So, I called FedEx, and got a moderately helpful (if very uninterested-sounding) phone rep. He put a trace on my package, and I felt better, although really disappointed that my beads wouldn't be delivered until tomorrow. So, I went about my day, deciding that I really shouldn't go to my LYS to pick up a #13 steel crochet hook for the beading, and gathered my wits about me.

By the way, did I mention that I left to take my mom to the airport this morning at 5:30? It was a bit uncomfortable (especially considering that I had a weird night--tossed and turned, dreamed a ton, and kept waking up during the scant 7 hours I had in bed), but I managed to make it home without being actually drowsy for more than the last two minutes. So, by the time I had the FedEx package traced, I felt like I had been up forever. In reality, it was only just over five hours; but when being up for five hours means that it's only just after 10am, it feels kinda strange. Mom's flying down to Tejas to see my brother, my adorable SIL and they're 2.5 week old munchkinette. Oh, how I wish they lived closer. I would love to hold her. My Mom and that brother (I have three, total) are my best friends next to Vern. It's hard to have my lil' bro and his lil' family that far off.

So, I went back to my day, taking care of the munchkins and all, took a few minutes to catch up on the few blogs I read, and sat down to finish the MS3 swatch when, to my uttermost surprise, I see a purple polo flash in the windows of my front door. The doorbell rings, DS the younger goes streaking for the door, and I get up to see what's going on. And there it is--my little box of beads! Woo-Hoo! (Don't you just love technology? It's my guess that somehow the scanning equipment substituted "Portland" for "Spokane". Whatever happened, I'm just glad that my box either went from Portland to my door in two hours and 19 minutes, or somebody in a purple polo was having a more tired day than I was. Or maybe it was purple polo-wearing software. You've gotta love databases and their attendant code. Anyway, I ordered two different colors, and I reallllllly like this one. What do you think?


So, as I play a little with the contents of the box, I planned out a quick trip out for a crochet hook, gathered the munchkins up, and off we went. I grabbed the mail, and (be still my beating heart!) the Zephyr Lace was nestled in back, behind something else I ordered that came today. (Why, oh WHY?, doesn't Knit Picks offer Priority shipping for their orders? Two days from NY & MI, but a FULL WEEK from Ohio. Sniffle, sniffle, grrrrr.) It was a few hours before I could start, but it's coming along well.

The beading is a bit awkward, but nothing like learning to knit. ;o) The trickiest part is keeping hold of both slick needles while I manipulate the hook, bead & stitch. I spear a bead with the hook in my right hand while holding the work in my left, which is worked to the stitch before the beaded stitch. I hook the stitch to be beaded, and keep gentle tension on the loop as I push the bead off of the hook and onto the stitch. As I do this, the stitch usually slips off of the left needle, and then I insert the left needle into the top of the stitch, gently pushing the bead down to where it's supposed to be. Then I work the stitch, and go on my merry way. I'm still waiting for my chart keeper to arrive (gotta love KP's slow boat from Ohio shipping), but for now I'm doing okay with marking each RS row after I work it, and just putting a pen or pencil just above the current row. (You can see the tic marks at the edge of the rows in the photo above. I'm on row 11 there.)

Meanwhile, the house is reasonably presentable (well, except for the laundry room and the kids' room . . . ), and this is how DS the younger spent his afternoon:

Well, that, and other various permutations of the same. He had a blast.

Have a wonderful week!

Blocked.

This was a good weekend. Knitting & blocking on Friday, home improvement projects and some family time on Saturday, and church and a get-together with some friends on Sunday. Work, play and rest.

As mentioned, Friday I finished and blocked the little Sweet River. It took a little extra knitting and a some frogging, since I didn't have quite enough yarn to do as many repeats as I wanted.



There wasn't any way that much yarn would knit up another eight rows. So, I had to frog back. (Doesn't the reverse look cool?) Here's my preferred way for doing that with lace:



Lifeline on the fly. US3 circular needle with the right legs of a purl/ws row picked up. (Or any needle smaller than what you're using.) I picked them up from left to right, even though the pic looks like I did it right to left. Working from the inside of a stitch is easier to me for some reason, but taking a photo of the right side of the scarf looked backward. (Idiosyncratic, I know.)

So, I worked the final four plain rows and border and cast of with EZ's Sewn cast-off (sewing a duplicate of the long-tail cast-on edge over the live stitches), and tacked my first blocking session.

Pre-blocking:



Blocking:



(You didn't think I'd spoil the final reveal with a full photo, did you? ;o)

While pinned out, it measured 28" x 8.5". After waiting what seemed like a reeeeeeeeeallllllly long time, (just 24 hours, really), the moment of truth had arrived. After unpinning, it relaxed to 26" x 8.5". I really stretched it along the length, wanting to get all the length out of the stitches I could. I didn't think the alpaca would really spring back much, since it hasn't kept its shape very well in other things I've knit. (Hint: if you're knitting a hat for a youngster, get an alpaca/wool blend. You really need wool's crimp and spring to keep the hat in shape.)

So, without further ado, here's Sweet River's first run:



Pretty drape, and it compliments the new green of the burning bush nicely.



The back is pretty in it's own right, I think. Like a modernist interpretation of cables. (Like other modernist interpretations, it eliminates the curves and keeps only the most basic of the forms. I think it's fun.)



And a neck shot. Just barely long enough to go under a coat collar. For practical use, I'd probably shift it so it's centered at the back of my neck and the corners meet in front. But hindsight is 20/20. (I think it's more like 200/20, but that's just me.)

Conclusion? With the chart written as it is, it really needs two skeins of Decadence (or something similar) to make a very useful scarf. I'm thinking I'll frog it and try again with 1 1/2 repeats wide and see how long I can get it. Or maybe I'll let one of you do that. ;o) Additional charts and revisions to the pattern notes to come soon. Maybe some progress shots of some of the wip's, as well.

You can download the pattern (as it is so far) here: Sweet River PDF

Have a great Monday!

Stealth Project: Sweet River

The other night I was feeling tired and a little shaken up by some family stuff (long story short, it's all okay now), and I just wanted to have some nice, soft yarn in my hands and knit something pretty. (I had been struggling with a couple other lace projects (my very first), and just needed something simpler around which to wrap my brain.) My eyes landed on a skein of purple Knit Picks Decadence, and I began flipping through my one stitch dictionary. A lace pattern caught my eye, and the chart made sense to me for a change. With just two patterned rows, and something other than "purl every stitch" on the return rows, (each stitch is worked as presented--purls are purled and knits are knit), its appeal grew on me. So, I picked up my yarn and started something. Here's what happened. :o)



Looks kinda nifty in real life . . . honest it does. Well . . . let's just call this progress shot a "driver's license photo" and move on. Here's a more flattering shot:



And no, that little hand in the bottom left isn't over-exposed. We're seriously white around here. lol

So, without further ado, here's how you, too, can knit a Sweet River. (Much better than crying a river, I'd say. :o)


Sweet River (Beta)

You can download a pdf copy here: Sweet River PDF

This little scarf happened one evening when I needed some comfort knitting, and had lace on the brain. Adapted from “Gentle Curves” in The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns, this piece has a moss stitch border and only two pattern rows to remember. The instructions are written out below, with a lace chart to follow.

I used one skein of Knit Picks Decadence in Grape, and it made a scarf long enough to go nicely under my winter coat. (Not that I’ll need it anytime soon, since it’s Spring already . . . ) If you want to use a much lighter weight yarn, just add a repeat or two across to make it wider. (If that's confusing, just knit one full repeat as a swatch, and you'll get it.)

Gauge doesn’t matter a whole lot–my scarf was about 5 ½" wide, unblocked. I’ll update the file with finished dimensions once I do get it blocked. Since this is the first rev of the pattern, I'd appreciate comments, especially the "Hey! You messed up this one thing on row 14 . . . " if you have any.

Let the games begin!

Co 35 st.

Rows 1-4: k1, p1 across. (You should end with a knit stitch.)

Row 5: (k1, p1, k1) (moss border stitches), k29, (k1, p1, k1)

Row 6: (k1, p1, k1), p29, (k1, p1, k1)

Rows 7-8: Repeat rows 5-6.

Row 9: (k1, p1, k1), (Lace pattern begins) p1, yo, k4, ssk, p1, k2tog, k4, yo, p1, yo, k4, ssk, p1, k2tog, k4, yo, p1, (k1, p1, k1).

Row 10: (k1, p1, k1), work next 29 stitches as they appear and purl all yo’s, (k1, p1, k1)

Row 11-14: Repeat rows 9-10 twice.

Row 15-18: Repeat rows 5-6 twice.

Row 19: (k1, p1, k1), p1, k2tog, k4, yo, p1, yo, k4, ssk, p1, k2tog, k4, yo, p1, yo, k4, ssk, (p1, k1, p1, k1).

Row 20: (k1, p1, k1), work next 29 st as they appear, purling all yo’s, (k1, p1, k1)

Row 21-24: Repeat rows 19-20 twice. One pattern repeat completed. Repeat rows 5-24 until your scarf is long enough to suit you.


(Just click on this baby to bring up a truly monstrously huge version.)

Chart notes: This pattern is worked over a multiple of 14 stitches, plus one (the first or last, whichever way you want to look at it). I used two sets of 14, with that “plus one” tacked on the end to make it symmetrical. Usually I find written lace instructions easier to memorize and understand, but with this one, the chart makes it a piece of cake. After one full repeat, I’m sure that you’ll be leaving the pattern in the work basket, or even at home when you take this to your Knit Night. :o)

And remember, you can download a pdf version here: Sweet River PDF

Questions, comments, or accolades? Bring ‘em on. PassionateMind@gmail.com

Annalea blogs at http://ThePassionateMind.blogspot.com.

My Lace: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl

Since I gave you a teaser earlier, I thought I'd divulge a few details about the FCSS I've started. Here's a current progress shot:



In the beginning, I thought I would be clever and do a lace swatch from the outside of the ball. I usually leave my swatches attached to the ball, and frog them after I'm done with them (they call me Ebeneeza Yarnover). So, I figured that instead of having a bunch of yarn pulled from the center of my neat ball, I'd use yarn from the outside, and then wind it back around. Well, I failed to take conscious note of Susan's comment from the pattern on the lace swatching step:

"When I knit small, top-down triangle shawls like this one, I use the shawl itself as my second gauge swatch."

When I had completed the setup rows and first pattern repeat, I liked what I saw, and didn't want to rip it out. So, I kept on going, using yarn from the outside of the ball. Perfectionist that I am, this bothered me. (Don't ask why. I don't have a good reason.) So, after bending some gray matter toward a resolution, this was my solution:



Yep. A broccoli rubber band (just the right size to hold the edges of the folded lace shawllette against the ball winder core). I wondered if it would work . . .



And it did. It held on beautifully while I wound the ball from the outside, even leaving enough room at the top for the rubber band to keep from being incorporated into the yarn ball itself. So, as a nod to the old junior high sentiments:



♥ Ball winder + broccoli band = BFF ♥

And now, back to our regularly planned blog entry . . .

For the most part, I'm enjoying working on the FCSS. I can't say I've done a whole lot of knitting, per se, since I've tinked or frogged just about as many rows as I've knit. However, I've learned a few very valuable lessons:

1. I agree whole-heartedly with Stephanie about variegated yarns and lacework . . . with one exception: your first lace project. Having different colors throughout the work makes it a LOT easier to tell one row from another, and to identify mistakes. (Let's see . . . I know I've got the right number of stitches on the yellow/peach/orange row . . . so I must have missed something after that.)

2. I'm afraid I don't agree with Susan on the use of metal needles in lacework. I've tried valiantly to use bamboo (of which I have a nice suitable assortment), but I can't stand knitting on anything that doesn't allow the stitches to slide freely. Maybe someday I'll invest in some especially expensive and slippery hardwood needles (maybe some Lantern Moon ebony circulars, hmmm?), but for now, it's Knit Picks for me. If I'm careful, I don't have any trouble due to the metal. And when I'm not careful, I don't have trouble due to the metal, either. And I do love the sllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide. It's like knitting on air.

3. Tradititonal lifelines don't appeal to me--the idea of pulling even something as smooth as mercerized cotton crochet thread through a delicately knitted something (even when the fiber is a smooth, super-soft merino) is just not appealing. However, I've used a modified version (which I'm sure has been "discovered" before this) that I really like:



A US2 32" circular. Because the wrong side rows are all purled, it's easy to pick up a row of knitting to protect it when you need to frog a few rows (as I'll be doing when I get back to the lace). Due to the variegation, it's even easy to pick up lace rows, once you get the hang of it. As you can see above, I've picked up the right leg of each stitch (including yo's), and can frog neatly back to that row. Then I just knit off of the little needle and I'm back in business. This time I'm frogging due to somehow putting in an extra yarnover. (Maybe I'm subconsciously reading my knitting already, and saw the yo's below . . . but I'm not sure that's a good thing. lol) I laddered down and took out the extra stitch--but there was no way I could get all of the slack out of the stitches. Frog pond, here I come.

And now, off to work on my grocery list for next week. (Romantic, I know . . . but there's nothing that says "I love you" like home cooked meals. :o)

Have a great weekend!

Startitis

It seems that I have a touch of startitis. That last post should have been some indication, but it took me a while to identify it. I've only started two new projects since the cardi collapse, but it sure has been fun ogling plenty of others.

Here's where startitis has gotten me:

Socks for the Anderman:



And a lace project (Susan's FCSS):



So far, so good. I've been resisting the urge to start a huge pile of things (although I did do a swatch with some Knit Picks Shadow in Vineyard for the Spring Things Shawl (okay, okay, I bought the pattern because my LYS had the Shadow for 50% off! I'm guilty; but can you blame me?). Let me tell you, stockinette swatches with lace yarn are the least satisfying of any swatches I've ever done. Sure, they're good for letting you know whether your finished lace project will be anything like the original . . . but they sure do look funny.

In other news, I did finish the baby's socks earlier this week. She absolutely adores them, which warms my little mothering heart. There was even a touch of serendipity to the random way I ended the ribbing halfway down the instep: the end of the ribbing matches up with the beginning of the toe of her Mary Janes:



I've decided that I need to knit a lot more socks for her--and that she needs more Mary Janes. Handknit socks and MJ's are a match made in heaven. :o)