Runty's new toy

Of flowers, cat, and knitting

It's been so hot here in northern Virginia. I took a break from knitting and other chores and took stock of my garden.






When I planted this rose last year it was only about a foot tall. Now it is almost five feet tall, with abundant flowers and great fragrance. I used to think roses are difficult to grow. I must have lucked out.

Not much else in the garden. The peonies are pretty much gone. The hydrangeas are only budding and the lillies also have a while to go yet.

But my favorite flower of all are blooming.

Sweet William!

What about knitting?

Well, I finished Mary Lee's entrelac shawl.

I put it in the mail last week, so she should get it some time this week.
And of course Runty thinks it is his.



So I decided to make him a toy.



Here is the Huggable Hedgehog -- a Fibertrends pattern. Runty is checking him out on the kitchen floor.

It's approved!

Two local yarn stores had sales this weekend, but I only made it to one. (Augh!) As though I need more yarn....I got some any way. Mission Falls and Lamb's Pride superwash for Bill's sweater.

Back to work now. This is a short week. Yeah!

FLAK Update

I bypassed sleeve island.

I cheated!
Bill's FLAK is going to be a vest.

I must have some mental blocks about knitting sleeves. However, I think the vest would look just as nice, and he will wear it more often (I hope).

This is what I have so far:

Well, it will be a v-neck vest. No buttons either. I don't know how to make button bands yet. Instead of casting on additional stitches in one row as per the cardigan/pullover, I gradually added on the stitches to make the vest armholes. The armholes will be deeper but I think that will be okay once I add the armhole ribbing.

I am now in the body shop.

I think it is really nice with the Black Water Abbey yarn. The color is Bracken.

A small progress on SAM

I have not been working on him that much. But Sam the Ram now has his four little legs waiting to be grafted on.

Hang in there, Sam. Maybe this weekend.

In the meantime my yard is a mess!

Marphy's law: When the peonies bloom, it rains.

My peonies flopped all over the place. So I cut and put them in a vase to bring inside:

Aren't they pretty?

And of course Runty has to check them out.

I'd better get back to work. More later.

Entrelac, entrelac and more entrelac

I love entrelac.

Last year, I took an entrelac class at my LYS (local yarn store for you non-knitters). This is the result:

Yes. You must have figured out by now that I love vests. This is knitted with Noro Sil Garden, one of my all-time favorite yarn.

I am now working on two more entrelac projects:

This is a shawl/stole for a very good friend. It is again knitted with Noro Silk Garden -- about 1/3 done now. The pattern is from Pam Allen's Scarf Style book.


And of course another vest in progress:

This is Rowan Summer Tweed and the leftover Prism Wild Stuff from the denim jeans jacket.

I had to do the entrelac part twice. The first time I followed the pattern, but the entrelac squares turned out far too large, thus making the vest pan out at the bottom. I ripped the whole thing and decreased it by five squares (30 whole stiches). It now fits perfectly. I did the twisted ribbing at the bottom and will do the same around the armholes and front placket. I should finished it this weekend.

See you at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Yes, I need more yarn!

Sam, FLAK, and flowers

Finally I took some pictures.

First on Sam:

Sam is now ready for his legs.

Here I put him on a Kleenex box, just to see what he'll look like three-dimensional.

Runty wants in on the picture too.

A little too dark, but at least you can see the scale.


And now on to FLAK.

For those non-knitter friends of mine, this is a Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong sweater for my husband.

Finally, I saddled up!

I settled on Black Water Abbey yarn in Bracken. So far, so good. I took Terri's advise and watched the yarn before knitting.

A closer look. I modified two things from Janet's master pattern. I used a simple 3/3 braid cable instead of the wave cable. And since it is for my sweetheart, I decided to put the XO cable in the middle instead of having another horseshoe.

And these are the rejects! I told you I was swatching!

They are from left Bartlett, Jamieson's Soft Shetland, Cascade 220 blue heather, BWA Mountain (which I like and might knit mine in this) and Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed. I like this one too but the gauge is wrong.

And now the flowers:

The azaleas are blooming in Northern Virginia:

And my Clematis too.

And soon, Peonies!

See? I have been busy.

:)