Lace Blob and FO

We're slowly getting settled into our new place - at least as settled as people without furniture can be. Yup, more than two weeks after arriving we are still sleeping on the floor and getting increasingly frustrated with the moving company that told us five to ten days. However they say they're going to be here on Friday. Fingers crossed.

Knitting activity is also getting back to normal. I didn't even touch the wedding shawl for over a week while we were in the worst of the moving and traveling, it takes way more concentration than I possessed at that time. I've gotten back to it in the past week and yesterday it looked like this.


Not too different, I know. It really is bigger though and today I have moved on to chart B which promises a little more variety. The going is somewhat slow and the rows have passed the 300 stitch point but it's fun to work on and diverting as well, which is what I need right now.

I did manage to finish a pair of winter socks for Adam. These were my mindless project for the times when exhaustion and travel and craziness took over my brain. Worsted weight socks are a quick-knit anyway and while it isn't winter here yet, you can feel it coming.

Cable Twist Socks (Hello Yarn)
Patons Classic Merino Natural Mix
Raveled here

The pattern here is actually a mock-cable formed with slipped stitches. A little fussy to work but easier than breaking out the cable needle. Also a little less "lumpy" than a true cable, which is probably a good thing in a sock of this weight.

I'm feeling like a pretty negligent blogger lately, I must admit. Only two posts for all of September. I want to do better in October but I also have to leave for my wedding in less than three weeks, so I probably shouldn't be making any promises. I do hope that in the coming weeks I'll have time to tell you all more about our new home and our new town and all of the exciting things that are going on. I should also be getting reacquainted with my stash and my books and all the things that got packed away when I moved to France - which should provide plenty of ideas and posts and additions to the queue.

Autumn always feels like a time of beginnings to me and this one even more so. There should be plenty to write once there is time for writing.

Shawl with no name

Lace in progress never looks very good. The wedding shawl is so far no exception.

It has actually grown a little bit since this photo but progress has slowed. Those short early rows inspire a false confidence. Now each row has well over a hundred stitches and takes 15 minutes to complete and of course the rows will only get longer. Happily this first motif is pretty intuitive and doesn't require constant attention to the chart.

Good progress is being made in other knitting. The secret thing is finished, but must remain secret for a little longer. The Captain Carrot scarf, which I put down at the start of the Ravelympics has been finished and washed and is now drying. Photos to come.

I scored a copy of the new Debbie Bliss magazine this week. If you're a fan of her style it's worth checking out. There are some really nice patterns and some other interesting content as well. Unfortunately the website seems to be down at the moment.

Blog posts here will likely be a little spotty for the next few weeks as I move and get settled in Kingston. But I'll update when I can and be back with much more sometime in late September.

VIP (very important pr0n)

So important that it is showing up a day late apparently. Oh well.

I dithered forever on what yarn to choose for my wedding shawl, considering a surprisingly wide variety of fibers and colours (I'm not wearing white, so I have options). Eventually I decided that it needed to be something classic and pretty but subtle.

Zephyr laceweight wool silk in Sable. It is exactly what I was hoping for. It is light but strong and soft with a subtle sheen. I'm still on the first pattern repeat but so far I'm pleased with how it's working up. This shawl probably won't be the biggest project I knit this year in either size or stitch count but it will certainly be the most significant, the most emotionally loaded. I want to enjoy the process as well as the result. Work in progress photos coming soon.

I was also lucky to receive a little gift from Stitches. Socks That Rock lightweight in the Knitter's Without Borders colourway.

Great yarn and a great cause - no way to go wrong there.

The only other thing I have on the needles is un-blogable since it's a gift for someone who reads here. Just a little stash-busting something, but it's fun to work on. Here's a sneak-peek.

Added to the list of things interfering with actual knitting this week is this book:

Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece. This book has been out for a while and I hadn't really had a lot of interest in it. The theme of the book is knitting with handspun yarns and I don't spin. I can drop spindle a bit but I've long thought that I'd rather knit yarn that make yarn. However a thread in one of the Ravelry Cable Knitters forums led me to some project photos and I knew I had to get a look at this book.

Do I need to tell you that I wasn't disappointed? It's not that often that I get a book and really want to knit even a quarter of the projects in it. That's fine with me (truth told I've bought a whole book for one pattern at least once) since I know that tastes change and inspiration is valuable. A Fine Fleece? There are only a couple of patterns in there that I don't want to knit. In many cases immediately - I am only being saved by the crazy that is my life right now.

As has been mentioned once or twice before I am a big fan of texture work and the cabled patterns in this book are incredible. They vary from reasonably simple to extraordinarily intricate. Each project is shown in both handspun and a commercially spun yarn (nice for us non-spinners) and the photography and styling are lovely. It's not going to make me a spinner (though never say never) but I think at least one project from this book is going to be on my needles this winter.

Blanket coverage

The knitting of the Greenwood Blanket is done. The ends are woven and I just need to figure out how I'm going to block the thing but I feel I can allow myself a sigh of relief.

It really wasn't that much of a slog - and it was probably good that it was on a deadline. It turns out that if you keep working on something progress will be made and it will get done. Who knew?
The knit itself wasn't really enjoyable. The patten is great but I think lace on this scale just isn't for me. The chunky yarn and big needles said "mindless knitting" to me, but of course the chart reading was anything but. In fact the part of it that I enjoyed the most was when the charted bit was over and I got to settle in last night with a DVD and the garter edging. For some reason that's the sort of knitting I associate with afghans - quick and repetitive, something that can be worked on autopilot. I've been toying with the idea of a log cabin (a la Kay and Ann) to really explore the zen of garter stitch. I should probably hold off until we have some idea where we'll be living by the time the cool weather comes again.

All that said, I'm very happy with the results and looking forward to seeing how it blocks out. I suspect that because of the relatively high synthetic content it's not going to hold as hard a block as 100% wool would, but I think a little organic ripple will be okay here. There's a pre-block sneak photo on my Ravelry, and I will post a real set of photos here sometime in July after it has been gifted.


Yesterday was my Ravel-versary. A whole year of Ravelry, how many hours logged in I wonder? It's an amazing tool though and has fundamentally changed the online knitting culture. It's had a few growing pains, which I guess was inevitable but the volume of information and the ability to connect with other knitters is so valuable.

I hope to sneak in another post or two before the weekend when we start making our way back to Canada. July is going to be a very hectic month but there will still be knitting and I hope there's opportunity to blog it as well.

mmmm, pastis

Half-knit

I said in my last post that the pattern for the greenwood blanket was becoming intuitive, but it's not relaxing. There is some lace knitting that I find, after a while, becomes meditative in its repetition. This is not that lace.

Part of this is absolutely my own doing. When I began looking at patterns for this project (months ago, my intentions were good) I was restricting myself to those which had plain (or rest) rows that were either all knit or all purl. I have found in the past that this really makes the work go faster as well as allowing the mind (and the hands) a little rest from time to time while still adding to the piece.

I don't know how this pattern slipped past my filter, but it did. It wasn't until the day I started knitting it that I realised that the wrong side rows also require attention. Not too much, just counting. Knit so many, purl so many, and only two of the wrong side rows are the same. This shouldn't be a big deal but having to pay strict attention all of the time, rather than half of the time (right side rows) is slowing me down.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not regretting the choice of pattern in the least. It's clearly written and interesting to work and it is coming out beautifully - you'll have to take my word on that for a but longer. I'm now about half way through the knitting and I'll be glad when it's done. Normally I consider myself a process knitter but on this one it's all about the product.

The yarn too is an issue. I like the feel of it, which surprises me considering the high synthetic content, but I find it a little difficult to manoeuvre. I think it's the weight - for some reason I can't manipulate the chunky yarn as quickly as I would something finer (though admittedly the thought of knitting something this size in a DK is enough to make the blood run cold).

In future I think I'll restrict my lace knitting to worsted weight yarns or lighter. And the next time I knit a blanket of this size, I'm doing it in winter.

Scheduling issues

The good news is that the afghan knitting has begun and (despite one large frogging incident) is progressing nicely. That's 'nicely' and not 'at a pace rarely achieved outside of highly skilled areas of the Faeroe islands'. It will be done in time for the wedding of the brother. The second project for said wedding, which up until this weekend I thought still stood a chance, is off.

I don't know what I'm thinking sometimes. I hoped to knit a little sweater for myself to wear to said wedding but it just isn't going to happen. I could, in theory and if I did nothing else probably finish the afghan and a small sweater in the month I have, but I know I wouldn't enjoy it. Knitting on the afghan for more than a couple of hours at a time wears me out, since the pattern requires full attention at all time. Better to take the money I would have spent on the yarn and buy myself a nice top and (as an added bonus) maintain sanity.

Of course the french vanilla cardi and the stripey socks are still lingering as well, waiting to be finished up. I work on each one a bit each day but the afghan has taken over at the moment.


I'm still not sure how much of it I will reveal on the blog before it's gifted, so that's it for photos for now. Plus macro photography of tweedy knits makes me feel like Jared (except less talented, alas).

The afghan did get a bit of a break this past weekend as we were in Lyon doing a little sightseeing and visiting friends. I got quite a lot of sock knitting done on the way there and back though, train travel is so well suited to knitting. I also got to see the new Indiana Jones in an actual theater in actual English (luxury!). As a result of this I feel I can confidently predict the majour motifs of at least the next two Indiana Jones films, but it was a fun show and a good time.

There was a little time for shopping as well.


What's in the bag (and why is this knitter smiling)? Answers next time.

Done and done

The birthstone socks were, in fact, done on Easter. Okay it was Easter Monday, but I've decided that it still counts. They turned out beautifully. A fortuitous meeting of yarn and pattern. Here they are fresh off the needles, unblocked and not showing to full potential.

V's Birthstone Socks
pattern: Hedera by Cookie A.
Fleece Artist Basic Merino in Amethyst

Overall I really did enjoy working on them. I finally decided that the problem I had sticking with them came down to the lace element. I like knitting lace, and I like knitting socks, but I knit them in entirely different situations. The combination meant that I needed an additional, plainer sock project for my traditional sock moments.

Speaking of plainer socks, the Serious Hiking socks are also finished. It was a productive week. Not least because the weather here, in these first days of spring, has been absolutely wintry. This pair has already had a trial in the weekend snow.


I have some thoughts about these socks, but I'm going to save that for another post. I may write up the pattern properly and offer it free here at some point. Anyone interested? There don't seem to be a lot of heavier weight sock patterns out there at the moment.

The clouds did lift for a time today and all the snow had a highly picturesque effect on the mountains. Alas it seems that there is more weather to come and thoughts of spring knits remain far off. However the Spring Interweave has finally arrived and the weather will catch up eventually. And there is a sweaters worth of yarn on my coffee table, just waiting to be wound.

leafing out

In a small act of solidarity, I knit a couple of leaves.


And then I couldn't stop:


It's addictive, clearly. I really ought to be packing boxes or something....

The Signs of My Undoing

Anne Hanson, genius lace designer has done it again. If you haven't seen the Cluaranach, go now. Right now. I'll wait.

Gah!! The thistle pattern! The Scots Gaelic! The wearable rectangularnes. I'm in lurve. And (and!) I have yarn in the stash that may have been waiting for this pattern all its life.

Must....knit....Christmas gifts.....

Gah!