Aqua Perfection

Anna's Confirmation Pont Neuf

Pattern: Pont Neuf, from Twist Collective Spring-Summer 2013
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK in Frosted Teal (4.25 skeins)
Needles: 2.5 and 3mm Addi Turbo
Gauge: (blocked) 23 sts 36 rows over 4"
Buttons: 1/2" lucite with rhinestone, from Button Button in Vancouver
Modifications: Had to add rows to the yoke area to make up for my row gauge. (Pattern calls for 32 rows over 4", and I was getting 36.) The extra rows also affected my lace panel pick-up - I had to pick up 103 instead of the prescribed 93.

I had to knit 2 all-nighters to finish this in time. Confirmation was pushed forward by a whole week, leaving me scrambling to finish it. 

I finished it on the Friday at 10 PM. I soaked it, spun it in the washer, squeezed it in a few towels, and pinned it out at midnight. 

I left it to dry most of Saturday, and on Saturday evening took the pins off and tried it on my daughter -- a little too tight. I had been using the measurements from a beloved garment of hers, but that particular sweatshirt is quite thin and that made a difference in size.

So, I sewed all the buttons on, laid it back on the carpet, and pinned it out with extra width - I really stretched the lace panel in particular. I took the steam iron and shot about 300 ml worth of water, in steam form, through the whole front panel. I cranked the ceiling fan on as high as it would go, and went to bed.

By morning, it was both dry and the perfect size. Relief! I unpinned it at about 9:40 and we had to be at church at 9:45.

Luckily, church is only 2 minutes away, so we were early and looked very composed.

The yarn -- wow. Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK, 90% merino and 10% cashmere. I got it from Webs on sale in early May. I wish I could afford to knit a me-sized sweater in this yarn, but I'd need about 6 skeins and, at $33 per skein, regular-price, it must remain a dream. 

I can't say enough good things about it. It's soft, squishy, pearly, gentle on the hands, amazing yardage, blocks like a dream, glows in the light, has wondrous stitch definition, and is basically the yarn that all the angels have in their online carts, waiting for the day they get a pay raise.

The buttons were a last-moment find from the marvellous Button Button. So pretty, and just perfect for a girl of her age. There are 11 - 1/2" lucite shank buttons with a little rhinestone on the top of each one. This photo makes them look too blue - in fact they were greener in tone: a lovely pale robin's egg.

I loved this project. The pattern is utterly beautiful - I think it even beats Ruby's Fern for the title of nicest thing I've ever knit. Avery wants one - "In rosy pink," she specified firmly. 

Yay for finishing in time! And yay for that moment of harmony when gorgeous pattern meets celestial yarn.

Displayable Knitting

I have knit quite a few things this fall, but can show hardly any of them. THESE, though, are a present for ME, so you get to see!

I even put them under the tree.

Last spring my friend came to visit for the weekend, and brought me three balls of yarn from her recent trip to Iceland. "Direct from the factory!" she said.

With three balls of sock yarn, the possibilities are nearly endless, but I opted for a simple toe-up knee sock, with a little teeny yarn-over rib. They're knee socks, but I like wearing them scrunched up.

Yarn:
80% Icelandic wool, 20% nylon
Tension:
About 10 sts per inch on 2.25mm needles. (I used 120 cm long Addi Turbos)
Pattern:
Using a long circular and magic-looping, cast on 12 stitches using figure-8 cast-on. Do half your increases each end of both needles EVERY ROUND, then the other half of your increases every OTHER round until you get to 72. Knit until it's just at the start of your heel, then do a short-row heel. As soon as that's done, start your pattern stitch for the leg. Which is:
Row 1: k4, p1, yo, k2tog, p1, repeat to end.
Row 2, 3 and 4: knit all knits and purl all purls.
Row 5: k4, p1, ssk, yo, p1, repeat to end.
Row 6, 7, and 8: knit all knits and purl all purls.
Repeat rows 1 to 8 until it's long enough to reach nearly to the widest part of your calf.
Switch to 2:1 rib. (k2, p1)
Knit til ball runs out (save a couple of meters for a cast-off), and bind off loosely in pattern.

I ended up with 25 yarn-overs in total, in each column.

These socks aren't warm - they are HOT. Icelandic sheep are not kidding around.

Thanks so much, Beth Anne! Love you. (And I still have a whole ball left to make mittens!)

Brr. And Ooooh!

I have a dog, but I don't often walk him.

Actually, that was part of the reason we got a Sheltie - because I read a lot of books which said that Shelties are a good choice for an older person or a sedentary person, because they can adapt to the amount of exercise their owners usually get. A Jack Russell, just to name an example, can't.

Hi buddy!

Recently I decided to start walking my dog, though, whether he requires it or not, because....well, it turns out MY species, the rare and dangerous shanissimus naturalis, needs more exercise than canis lupis familiaris.

And, it being January, my hands got cold.

"Mittens!" I cried. "My kingdom for mittens!"

"Stash diving", as people call it, is fun when you have been buying yarn for 8 years and using, relatively speaking, hardly any of it.

The green is Kauni Effektgarn, which changes colour from yellow to green and back again, slowly. The white is Lanett Superwash, left over from a baby sweater from yonks ago.

My thumb is not, in reality, as big as this photo makes it look.

It's just a made-up pattern - ribbing for 4 inches or so, with a few cable twists at the wrist for tightness, and then starting the colourwork, which adds a lot of warmth.

3 mm needles, which in retrospect are a little too big. The fabric should be tighter. Next time I'll do 2.25  mm and add a few extra stitches.

The two mittens are a little different from each other - I knit the dark green one first, and found the wrist too loose, so changed it up a bit for the yellow one.

And this weird, long photo is just to show the colour progression, but you can't see it anyway with that terrible light. (It's January.) Due to the phenomenon of perspective, the green looks huge and the yellow tiny, but that's just an illusion.

Now my hands are a lot warmer. And my dog is tired.

Theme: What I Knit for Christmas

On October 20, Gwen emailed everybody with her Christmas list. On it was "A great big sweater to swath myself in. Preferably in some shade of green."

I, in turn, emailed everybody (except Gwen) and said "I call the sweater."

The "green" thing didn't happen - Gwen likes cables so I decided on a gansey, which is traditionally blue. So, blue it was.

November was a little busy for me, but I did manage to win NaNoWriMo AND knit my sister's sweater within the month allotted. 

Sadly, I was so stinkin' sick in the first two weeks of December, I didn't manage to take any photos of Gwennie's Gansey before it had to be mailed.

So I had to ask Gwennie to snap some photos for me, which she did with alacrity.

My favourite one is this one below, showing the Gansey nestled among its fellows - garments I have knit for Gwen in the past. Isn't that something! That whole drawer - all handknits. And I don't mean to brag, or anything, but there are lots more that aren't showing.

There are layers in that drawer, baby!

Thanks, Gwen, for the photos. Love you!

----

Yarn: Harrisville New England Highland Aran 10-ply in Cobalt - #31.
Pattern: Based on the Robin's Hood Bay gansey from Gladys Thompson's Patterns for Guernseys Jerseys & Arans, with some modifications based on "Fylingdales" (Lisa Lloyd, A Fine Fleece). I increased the length of the stockinette portion at the bottom of Robin's Hood Bay, cut WAY back on the length of the cabled portion so it begins about 4 inches below the armhole (I think it's more flattering this length), took out the knitted initials, added Lisa Lloyd's welt and used her button band, used a plain 2X2 collar, and added a top-down, knitted-in saddle shoulder of the rope cable, flowing down the sleeve to the cuff. The cuff is about 4.5 inches long and knit quite tightly, to enable folding back of sleeves. (This is a house sweater and as such should be able to be shoved up to the elbows while using flour/water/detergent/towels/hair products.)

1982, Revisited

Since Christmas I've been enjoying a second childhood with my daughters' new dolls - Brianne and Leonie of the "Maplelea Girls". This line is Canada's version of the ubiquitous "American Girl" doll - equal in quality and price (a nice, round $100), albeit definitely a country cousin as far as the comprehensiveness of the line goes. There are only five Maplelea Girls, whereas the American Girl line, with their 'customize your doll to be exactly like you' option, is basically limitless.

Anyway, down to business: the clothes.

I'd be embarrassed to tell you how many hours I've spent dreaming up outfits for these dolls, so let's skip that part and get to the first one I've actually made - a gift for a friend's daughter, whose birthday party is today and whose Maplelea Girl will be the lucky recipient of this.


It looks better in real life.

A pleated wool skirt and an alpaca cardigan, made with the remnants of a 100 gram ball of Socrates alpaca sock yarn.





The wool is scrap from a skirt I made for myself this week, and was done in about 2 hours, altogether, most of it spent pleating. I just cut a 33" piece, marked it at 1.5" increments, and pressed 1/2" pleats all along the length, then stitched two lines at the top and a 1/8" hem at bottom, and added the braided microsuede trim to give it a firmer edge at the top. Two 1/4" snaps close it at centre back. This was SUPER FUN to make...luckily, because my daughters both want identical ones for their dolls.

Cardi for Brianne
Pattern: Retro Cardi by Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer, for 18" dolls
Yarn: Alpaca With a Twist Socrates in kind of a purpley colour...have lost ball band.
Tension: around 7.5 sts per inch
Needle: 3.00mm bamboo
Notes: Turned out too big. It looked slimmer in the pattern photo, so I'm wondering whether my tension was incorrect, or whether my eyes simply deceived me. So, once it was done I cut it under the arms and removed 3 inches of width, in total. Seamed it with a sewing machine. Shoulders are still too generous though.

This project was so fun, I've already started a Fair Isle vest that measures 12 inches around and 6 inches long...so cute! I'll show you next week. Today's Mr HalfSoledBoots' birthday, so I'm off cake-making right now.

Too late, Gwen.

Gwen left another comment to notify me of her change of heart regarding the quilt binding. The green is peaceful, she now thinks: "I'm not liking the pink so much."

Sadly, she was too late.

For once in my precious life, I got ON something, and got it done.



I'm so darn happy about this thing, you wouldn't believe it.

The Fountain Pen Shawl, Finished

Fountain Aster
Pattern: Fountain Pen Shawl, by Susan Lawrence, Interweave Knits Spring 2009
Yarn: Handspun 80% merino, 20% silk (worsted spun, 2-ply)
Needles: 4.5mm Addi Turbo Lace (120cm length)
Cast On: June 2009
Bound Off: February 20, 2010
Finished length at centre: preblocked - 34.5" / blocked - 50"
Modifications:
Ths pattern calls for 11 repeats in total. I didn't have enough yarn for 11 repeats, so I ended up with 9 plus the border.


I love the pretty pointies.

Blocking wires make this all so much easier. My friend and my mum and I made a set a few years ago for, practically, tuppence. Just a few stainless welding wires and a poster tube. How many hours has this saved us? Innumerable.

Colour not quite true, in any of these pictures. Darker than the sunlit shots, and lighter than the blocking shot.


Getting all arty with my crocii.



I usually do this thing with the trees and the grass and the points of lace, and I don't see any reason to stop now. In the absence of a good camera and a keen-eyed photographer, we have to settle for nature's spartan glories.

Drapey goodness.

See? The grass, the tree, the shadow of winter sunlight....now you're all meant to sigh "how beautiful! How understated!".


From the wheel it was born, and to the wheel it has returned.*

And that, my friends, is the story of how my first spinning became finished knitting.

I'm so proud of this project, because it is a study in gruelling hard work and perseverance. I had bought the roving before I even had a wheel or knew how to spin, on the advice of a sheep-show vendor who, when I asked her whether it would be too much for a beginner to handle, said "I'd go for it. I'm a both-feet-in kind of person."

So am I, I thought, and I went for it too. At times I was so frustrated I wanted to burn the lot, but I set my teeth and grimly carried on, drafting all wrong, overtwisting, underplying, stripping the roving down to a frayed and frazzled thing....and ended up with 1010 meters of ropy yarn experiment. But it was the weight I was shooting for, and it was an incredibly valuable learning experience.

As dubious as the finished yarn was, I picked a pattern, cast on, and worked on that sucker til it was done. My hands hurt (did I mention "ropy"? I think so.) and I had to rip it out twice, but it is finished and blocked and ready to wear.

And I have a little list going, of mistakes I'll not make again.

Thanks for your patience on the knitting posts. And, hey! This is the first one in..............oh my gosh. I just checked. LONG TIME.

Anyway, Carry On! I shall be back soon, with more of something-or-other.

----------------------------

* Shit. Remind me not to drape my lace over my spinning wheel in the name of artistic photography. It got caught on a hook. ("The bolt of Tash falls from above!")

BTW

A half hour ago I finished casting off my lace shawl and wove in the ends. I filled a bowl with lukewarm water and set the shawl to soak, got out the blocking wires, and sat down to write a triumphant post along the lines of "This is finally done! Can you believe it? I bet you thought you were going to have to wait forever to see this FO!"

Then I realised something.

I never did get around to telling you that I had begun the Fountain Pen Shawl from IK Spring 2009.

Or that I was using my purple laceweight handspun yarn...

or that I was half way done...

or that I took a chance on 11 repeats, and ran out of yarn...

that I ripped it back to 10 repeats, began the border, and ran out of yarn...

that I ripped it back to 9 repeats, began the border, and did NOT run out of yarn...

that I was almost done, that I was enjoying the border pattern, and that I'd likely finish by the weekend.

Oopsie.

But now you know, right? And the shawl will be dry by tomorrow afternoon, and if it's sunny you will see pictures. So, really, hardly any waiting at all! Yay!

VIP Service.

I got my brochures from Cunard, two days after I ordered them - lovely "ExpressPost". I'm sure if I hadn't made up all those expensive cruises I'd taken, they'd have sent them by donkey.

GrannyPurple, your comment made my entire week. And, Bon Voyage!

* * *

I got a lovely Bodum for Christmas, having wanted one for a long time. Any ideas what this might be?

You, there in the back - good answer. Observe, the transformation:

The steek stitches.

The steek, fulfilling its natural purpose.

The serger, fulfilling its natural purpose.

I like Bodum cozies, and there's no arguing their necessity. This one ended up a bit too narrow, even after an aggressive blocking, so I ended up ribbing more than I thought. Don't care - it looks cute. I opted for many buttons because I think it looks neat that way.

Bodum Cozy

Pattern: None. Corrugated rib using scraps

Yarn: Patons Classic Merino in a few colours

Needle: 2 circular method, 5mm bamboo

Time: about six hours all together

Size: About Bodum-sized. Could have used a few more stitches (I cast on 40 - should have used about 52)

FO, FO, FO, Merry Christmas.

Cross-Country Chullo

Pattern: Knitty, winter 2004

Yarn: Phildar Preface in light denim and denim marl

Yarn Source: Touch of Wool, Vancouver

Needle: 2.75mm Lantern Moon ebony DPNs and 3.25mm bamboo circular

Tension: Dunno.

Cast On: November 20, 2008

Bound Off: December 5, 2008

Size: This one is pretty big. It fits my 24" head perfectly but I think it's a bit too large for my brother-in-law, who got it for Christmas. I guess I'll be knitting him a watchcap to go underneath.

Notes: This one takes a lot of blocking. You've really got to use wool for best results, and do a heavy block. I used a steam iron on this because I didn't want it to grow, but next time I'll knit it smaller and stretch it like crazy in the blocking.

Note the shades - it's my clever solution to the time-consuming photo-shoot makeup problem.

I like it. I wouldn't mind making myself one of these eventually - it's a cool-looking hat. It was a fairly quick knit considering it's made of sock-weight yarn and small needles, and it was fun to make. The applied i-cord was a bit of a palaver though - not sure I wouldn't change that for next time, but it does make a nice finish.

Ticking Over

_____________________________
"I hate it when I'm boring."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. So do I. I've been so boring lately."
- my friend and me, today.





I thought I'd show you what I'm working on lately, since I am philosophically exhausted today and find myself unable to competently review a book.

Charlotte's Christmas stocking continues. It was borne in upon me that there isn't much time left if I want this done by 25 December, and with the entire family (my side, that is) here for the day, it would be a shame if Charlotte's was the only sock left uncrossed. Even Emily has one - not as big and fancy as the others, nor personalised, but at least hers would blend in.



As you can see, I've made some progress on the toboggan - compare it to this picture from June 18 which was the last time I had anything new to show.



I have cast on a new sweater. Between the purple yarn and the pattern, I've decided to call this "Grape Jaali".

My first attempt at the back of this sweater didn't go so well. I knit the cabled strip for the hem, then turned it and picked up along the long edge to begin the body of the sweater. You're meant to fold the knitted strip in half lengthwise, and pick up through both layers at once. The instructions call for you to pick up almost 1:1 - that is, for every row, you pick up a stitch. Stitches are wider than rows are high, though, and by the time I had a bit (read, ten inches) knitted I could tell this was going nowhere. The stitches were packed in so tightly that they were almost gathered - and with the hem doubled, there wasn't enough stretch to block it out effectively. Also, it seemed like it was going to be too big for me.


Ugly gathers.


I ripped, and began anew. This is the second try, and it's going much better. In case you're curious, I kept the cabled hem the same size, but picked up for the next size down - 126 stitches instead of 136 stitches. I also left the hem undoubled, and will whip-stitch it into place when I have blocked the piece to satisfaction.


Much neater.

And I have resurrected a five-year-old project, my very first attempt at quilting, with plans to finish this and hang it on my daughters' wall. It's not big enough for a bed and I don't have the wherewithal to make another umpteen blocks to MAKE it big enough. A wall hanging it shall be.



My favourite part of quilting is definitely the pressing, with the neat 1/4" seam allowances coming in a very, very close second.

I love miters.

I hope to buy the batting and backing, quilt this (hand-quilted, of course, with an electric needle) and finish it by the beginning of October. Doable, I think.

On the horizon is another sweater for Ruby, who this time will receive a nice thick pullover jumper in time for Christmas. Once I price the yarn, I can start that.

I'd also like to get some Latvian mittens knit this fall, but there are only so many hours in a day and I've got that pesky Ministry of Education insisting Charlotte gets educated...tchuh. Don't they know I've got STASH to deal with?

Circle Mutable

Cap Shawl
From Victoria Lace Today
by Jane Sowerby
The Ravelry entry for this shawl is here.

Cast On: January 3, 2008
Bound Off: August 30, 2008
Finished Size: 99"
Weight and Yardage: 178 grams, 1958 yards ETA: A Raveller has calculated there are 89,214 stitches in the Cap Shawl. That's a lot......a lot of stitches.
Tension: ?
Needle: 4.5mm bamboo circular
Yarn: 3.2 balls Fiddlesticks Zephyr 50% silk, 50% merino, colour Ruby, 630 yds/2 oz (~56 g)
Yarn Source: Village Yarns, Cumberland, BC
Yarn Cost: $64
Modifications:
The pattern does not use directional decreases: that is, all the decreases are k2tog, even when the lace is sloping left. I used the left-leaning SSK decrease when called for as I felt it created a less choppy, more elegant line in the left branches of the crest o' the wave section.

Notes:
A word on blocking circular lace. What you want to do is this: take a huge sheet, folded 4 times and centre marked, and pin it flat to a carpet. Pin a measuring tape at the centre, or you could use string, and hold a fabric marker at approximately the radius measurement of your desired finished size. Mark a perfect circle. Block to the circle, or to a consistent distance away from it. Circle perfection, and no irritating measuring and repinning.

Also, use blocking wires.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this shawl. I wish it were a bit more complicated, both because I was bored while knitting it, and because I like intricate lace. However, the sheer size of this mammoth shawl makes it impressive.




As to wearing it, as Annalea asked yesterday, I think it will do well with the top third folded down. It will still overlap a lot in front, but I think it'll be okay. The real problem will be storing it. I don't necessarily want it folded up somewhere between layers of tissue, but because it's a circle there's no good way to display it, unless I want to run a bunch of pins into my wall. Anyway my walls are not big enough to accommodate it - I only have an 8 foot ceiling. I guess I could buy a 100" curtain rod and hang it, in half, from that...we'll see.




Practical considerations notwithstanding, I am in love, sweet sweet love, with this shawl. You can tell by the fact that when I went to put all the photos from the memory card onto the laptop, Photoshop told me I had taken 83 pictures of my shawl. News to me.



Here are some of them, with grateful thanks to the beautiful, angelic Jen for being a good sport and modelling for me. Do click on the pictures, as they look much better when bigger.



It was quite a windy day here, and the beach seemed perfect, but it did prove a little tricky to get photos that were even moderately well focussed.





I like the motion shots though.





After a half-hour at the beach, I went home and played around in the shrubbery, lying on the grass and crouching awkwardly trying not to get the neighbour's house in the shots. I was hoping someone would notice me and come over and exclaim over the shawl, but no one did.



Yes, for you I hung my brand-new lace on two apple trees and a rhododendron...




...and let it drag on grass.




Herb garden fence, ornamented.





Thanks for all your wonderful comments yesterday. I just meant that post to be a blocking update, so I hope you can summon up the will to comment again today, on the very same piece of knitting...I like comments.