Happy New Year

To you and yours.

Aporanee and Carl

My angel

Runty.

Runty

Mommy loves you.


We said goodbye to Runty yesterday. The cancer won. But he is not hurting anymore. He is my angel now. It's been 17 good years and I will have lots of memories to remember him by.

My first Wollmeise

And a first Clapotis too.


Finally, I found out what the craze is all about Wollmeise yarn.


It is as nice and they say. And more. At over 500yards each 150-grams skein you have plenty for a variety of projects. I knitted my Clapotis scarf with five and a half increases and 20 straight sections. A tiny bit left over.

This will be a Christmas present for Carl's daughter Michelle. One down, two to go.

It needs blocking but at least it's done.

How many days until Christmas? Yikes!!

My Facts and Figures

A good way to stash down!


This is the start of a sweater that Penny Sanford, the owner of the Yarn Barn, my LYS in Burke, VA, disigned. It is a customized sweater designed to fit your "facts and figures." We started with taking our measurements and from a favorite sweater that fits and go from there. We are using eight accent colors of about 100 yards each and two main color of 300 yards each. It is knitted cuff-to-cuff and can be a cardigan, pullover, v-neck or crew-neck.. Whatever you like. It is made for you by you!


This is what I got so far:

It is a fun knit and fast too. Tonight we meet for the second part. Stay tuned.

They say lace knitting is addictive

Now I know why.

This is the beginning of the Swallowtail Shawl. Malabrigo sock yarn Persia colorway.

It could be a start of a new love affair...

Still seeing red

And a bit of blue, too.

The Cassidy cardigan is moving right along. I finished the two front pieces.

I can't seem to get the color. It is a much nicer, deeper red. I will try to take it outdoors today weather permitting. Anyway, on to the sleeves now. I love this yarn. The Madelinetosh and Dream in Color are now my two most favorite yarns.

Another not-quite-so-red sweater I am working on is the Urban Aran Cardigan for my sister. I am knitting this in Dream in Color Chinatown Apple. The pattern calls for a bulky yarn -- 15 stitches per four inch. I am knitting it in DIC worsted at 18 stitches. I am making size large to get a medium. It will need some serious blocking but I think this will work. DIC blocks out beautifully.

Here is the front

The back looks equally interesting!

Maybe I can try a reversible cardigan.

Another red project is my holiday vest. Trudging along slowly.

Just the lower part of the front left.

On Sunday I took a class from Nancy Bush at one of my LYS -- Nature's Yarn. It was an introduction to Estonian lace knitting. We made this little sampler.

I learned how to make the nupps -- that's the little bobble-like thingie that makes up the lily of the valley pattern. And lace cast-on and off. Really neat. It took away my fear of lace knitting. I think it's time to tackle the Swallowtail Shawl.

As if I don't have enough projects at hand, right?

I'm seeing red

And loving it.

All of a sudden I see red everywhere.

My Tart Cassidy is moving right along. I finished the back.

The color came out way to purply. It is a gorgeous, deep, rich red. This is the first time I work with MadelineTosh yarn and I am loving it. And the red. In fact I love the Tart so much that I got it in sock weight.

And in lace weight.

Now that is the most true of the colorway.
And that's not the only red I acquired. I got a skein of Have You Any Wool Lux Sport in Rage.

That's merino-cashmere-nylon. This is going to be Morgan. In fact I want to make one in the dark blue Traveler yarn I got from the Sanguine Gryphon for Carl as well.

Another merino-cashmere I got was from Squoosh Fiber Arts. True Love merino-cashmere in worsted weight.

I am debating whether I should make this into a Dream in Color shrug or a textured shawl.

But I haven't forgotten my blues. Here are two skeins of Sundara sock yarn that I got from a fellow Raveler.

Tosh sock in Stovepipe.

And to top it off, an alpaca roving from the Sanguine Gryphon.

That's it! I have exhausted the yarn budget for this year. Now knit, knit, knit. Spin, spin, spin. So much stash in I have to work at stash out!

Wednesday update

I have been pretty productive lately.

I finished Julie's Central Park Hoodie. I am very happy with it and hope she will too. I was able to sew the zipper in myself! A major accomplishment.

It was not that difficult as I was afraid. The finished object is very, very nice.

I have about 1,400 yards of yarn left over. The pattern called for 2,900 yards. Search me. There is enough yarn left for a hoodie for me.

I also finished my handspun Lavalette. Another pride and joy.

Needs blocking.

I finally decided on a pattern for my Madelinetosh Tart knitalong. Cassidy. I have had this pattern for all ages. I might put in a zipper instead of buttons too!

Despite the fact that the actual picture is a landscape orientation, blogger brought it in portrait! Oh well, you get the idea. The actual color is more intense than in the picture. Everybody is raving about this yarn and now that I am knitting it I understand why.. It has a very soft hand and is knitting up beautifully. I am alternating two skeins to prevent pooling even though the colors seem consistent throughout.

Another Dream in Color project is in the pipeline. Rogue hoodie for Pom. in Chinatown Apple. Think I will have yarn left over from this project too. Hmm, something wrong with my math here...

It's Thursday

Just one more day before a long weekend.

And more knitting days! Yeah!!

I finished a Colonnade. This was the quickest knit ever. I started this on Saturday. Manos de Uruguay Wool Classica from stash. I decided against a button. I think it drapes nicely by itself.

I am giving this to a friend's mom. It will keep her warm this winter.

Another FO is my Dream in Color sweater. Another quick knit.

Will need to sew on the buttons today.

I am still searching for the perfect pattern for my Madelinetosh Tart. I am now inclined to go with Mr. Greenjeans. It is classy and will look good with shirts, blouses or T-shirts.

I like this pattern too. From a new book edited by Veronik Avery called St-Denis.

It reminds me a lot of the Central Park Hoodie. I have to make a decision now if I want a Christmas cardigan. Maybe I'll make Mr. Greenjeans in Tart and the hoodie in Baltic...

Yarn Bliss

This is what a yarn heaven feels like...

I love my mailman. Especially on a day like yesterday. All these came:

Six skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh worsted in Tart.

Six of Baltic:

Two skein of Wollmesie:

And a skein of Sanguine Gryphon Traveler:

What more could a girl ask for?
Time to knit, of course!

Lavalette II

I have no business starting a new project, but I couldn't resist trying out the Targhee yarn I made. I cast on a second Lavalette:

I have no idea how much yarn I have. It is about 4 ounces and I have 14 wraps per inch -- in-between fingering and DK. I estimate I have a little bit more than 300 yards. That's why I chose this pattern. I can stop when I run out of yarn! So far it is knitting up beautifully.

Not at all my color but this will be gifted.

Another gift I am trying to crank out is Colonnade:

Manos del Uruguay from stash. This is a quick knit so hopefully it won't take me long. I just have to focus on it and not pick up another project or sit down at the spinning wheel.

We'll see.

Spinning fun

As if knitting is not enough.

I felt I needed a little break from all the knitting so I sat down at the spinnig wheel. I have been trying to do the Navajo plying for some time but had not really gotten good result. Then last week Caroline at LYS Uniquities where I go spinning sent me this video tutorial on Navajo plying from Spin Off Magazine. It is great! I watched it and watched it and watched it. Finally I sat down at the wheel:

Much, much better!

The color saturation is beautiful. This is Mountain Colors Targhee combed top. I think I have four ounces of it. Maybe a scarf or a shawlette. Not for me since this is not at all my colors but it will make a nice gift. I wonder if this is enough for the Herbivore.

Now this is my color:

A Blue-Faced Leicester roving that I got at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival a couple of years ago. It spins like a dream.

Definitely my color.

85 knitting (and spinning) days until Christmas.

Why, oh why, does one have to work?

A quest for red

I'm getting there.

My search for the perfect red for a Christmas sweater is winding down.

I got this in the mail yesterday.

Madelinetosh worsted in scarlet.

Looks good on Runty.

I am thrilled. This is my first order with Madelinetosh and it looks like a start of a wonderful relationship. I have five skeins of this from EatSleepKnit.

Now the search for the pattern. I think this is going to be Mr. Greenjeans.
Then this morning I got an email from the Backwards Loop. They are getting Madtosh in tart this Thursday! Six skeins are on my way!

It's raining red on my party, and I'm enjoying it.

In the meantime this is what the hallway in front of my office looks like:

Boat anchors anyone?

Finally, finally we are getting rid of the old CRT monitors and replacing them all with the flat-screen LCDs. I got mine over a year ago (rank has its privileges.) but some offices have had to wait. Finally there is some year-end money to spend and they are replacing the old clunker monitors. About time!

TGIF

Just keep on knitting...

I have been pretty productive. The CPH for Julie is coming right along. I finished the fronts, back and sleeves. Now will have to join the shoulders and get to the hood. I am going to have a lot of yarn left over. The yardage requirement for the larger sizes in the pattern is way, way off!


In the meantime I whipped up a cute little vest from the Noro Mini Knits Book 2 by Jenny Watson:

A very quick knit in Noro Kureyon. The pattern calls for 200 grams for size small. I used more because I wanted to match the stripe sequence. This is color number 52. Stash yarn. At one point in time I was buying a lot of Noro yarn. Then I found out that a full-size sweater in Noro is a bit too colorful for me. A little vest like this is perfect. Just enough colors to jazz up a wardrobe but not too overwhelming.

Speaking of color. I dream of it. Dream of Color, I mean.

This is Dream in Color Dusky Aurora. I have had this for at least a year now. Every time I looked at it I said "Hmm, it's kind of dull." The colors are a little muddy. I wonder why I bought it. Then one day I decided to swatch it. Just to see what it would look like knitted up. I was really surprised how pretty it is knitted up. Perfect.

This is this sweater, from the Queensland Collection book 11 by Jenny Watson. I love her designs.

Front and back done. Now on to the sleeves.

My favorite color is blue. In fact I have too much blue stuff. It's time to deviate. Another trip to the stash came up with this.

Perfect red. This is Brooks Farm Solana. I picked this up a couple of years ago at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. Just two skeins -- 620 yards. I don't know why I only bought two skeins. I want to knit a Christmas sweater but that is not enough. It will have to be a shrug or a vest. Maybe a DIC shrug.

The red yarn I really want is this one:

Madelinetosh worsted in tart. It is out of stock everywhere. Hopefully EatSleepKnit will have some soon.

In the meantime I dusted off my wheel and picked up spinning again.

This is Mountain Colors in meadow. Very pretty jewel tones. Not my colors but it will make a nice shawlette gift, I think.

I will Navajo ply this. It is going to be gorgeous.

How many projects do I have ongoing? Now you know why I look forward to weekends!

91 knitting days until Christmas.