lace-ing along

I picked up the Lotus Blossom Tank again after a few weeks hiatus. After trying to map out the pattern with Juanita, we decided to just knit the pattern and see how it turns out. Since the height of my stitches is taller than the SWTC bamboo, 26 rows instead of 36 rows in 4", my angle will be much steeper. I am onto the stockinette on the back.
also, I started a quickie project - Branching Out from Knitty - using Karabella Boise - which is cashmere (and I think merino) in a muted coral-pink color.
Blocked the blue cashsoft cabled sweater back/front and arms, and they look all about the same size now.
Thinking about a couple of others...

Violette Sweater (pink cable)

I'm still at work with the Louisa Harding Violette Pink cable sweater.
I'm past my waist and still going strong. I took a break last night to pick up an old project, the red and brown sparkle tank shown back in January as a UFO. I had overknit the front, and forgotten to bind-off at the armholes, so I ripped it back and re-bound off in the appropriate spots. Now, I'm joining the second ball at the neck, so I can finish up. With today turning cool-ish in the 60s from yesterday's 90s, I'm thinking I'll knit sleeves on this one, maybe even 3/4 length sleeves from the top down. I can hardly wait, it'll be a new technique for me.

I also started swatching with Calmer in Coral. Made my 4" swatch then, re-read the yarn band. The band says 21 stitches for 4 inches on a US 7; the pattern says 21 stitches on a US 8. I'd probably be closer on a US 7, so I'll have to try that again later.

Lotus Blossom Tank

I'm about 2" into the stockinette and realizing that my pattern repeats are about 2" longer than what the pattern calls for. It seems that I didn't confirm row gauge. No way to do that with the change in yarn to the Madil Eden. I have 22 st wide and 26 rows high, versus the pattern's 36 rows. So, It'll take some adjustment. I'm printing the graph paper now and hope to map out what changes I will need to make.

I knit the third ball of the Louisa Harding Cabled knit top. It's slow-going. Even though I enalarged the pattern on a copier so I could see it, I still need to pay attention, otherwise I find the row getting out of synch with the number of stitches, or I find myself holding the cable stitches to the front instead of the back. It's just not normal for me to hold it to the back! unfortunately, that's 2 times each side that I'm holding it to the back, so I'm now noticing right away when I hold it to the front by mistake. With all the cabling, I can see it WILL need the 12 balls called for in the pattern, since the balls are only 83 yds, and it gets taken up into cables pretty quickly. Not all of my hearts look like hearts, especially the ones at the seam where the increases are occurring. Oh well. Who's going to look up at my armpits when I'm wearing the sweater ?

found my first tank

Found my first tank top (didn't fit - i knit too big). The top is made with Berocco Soft Twist Bulky weight and GGH (Muench) Verikeri (which is a similar green with gold bits in it), held together. The scarf is a drop-stitch scarf I found I made last year as a Christmas present for me. It's Louisa Harding the angora blend and ribbon of the same colorway. Here's a close-up of the neck so you can (hopefully) see the gold gilt part.

July's Fetching Gloves - in a local show

In July, the Knitting Bee (shop near me) had a Customer Trunk Show featuring customer's nitted projects made with KB's yarn. I entered 2 items :

A beaded bag that I had made in a class last year at KB, from Rowan 4-ply soft in Black, and metallic beads on a US 3 needle.

AND the "Fetching" gloves from the Summer Knitty, made with one ball of Cashmerino Aran on a US 7 (supposed to be Us 6, but I gooofed when I grabbed my Denise needles). It took about 6 hours to knit total, and they are luxurious to wear.

Here they are up close and personal. The cables on the wrist and knuckles are so enticing...

Lotus Blossom Tank

It's 70 degrees and while the weather is perfect, I'm madly knitting my lotus blossom tank towards completion. I'm a bit more than half way - having finished the 4 repeats of the lotus lace (alien heads), and I'm in the stockinette now. This was taken without my flash. The color is actually a light blue.

This next one is with my flash - so you can see the color closer...

Also hiding in the upper right corner are some really cute new stitch markers I found on ETSY.com (Search for "Sheep stitch markers" and you'll just fall in love with them.

I'm using Madil Eden (Cascade's Bamboo) and making the smallest size. A local store near me had knit it in the off-white and let me try it on. Even though I am between the smallest and next smallest size, it fit me perfectly (expanded to fit!). The bamboo has more drape than cotton, or the SWTC bamboo, and it hasn't split much, of course, I knit sl-o-o-o-wly through the lace part, so I was careful not to split it. Now, I hope I can knit it quick enough to catch the end of summer.

Also started this pink cabled top from Louisa Harding's Gathering Roses collection in LH Kashmir Aran - very soft, but my head is getting dizzy from all the cables. It's hard to see from the picture, but there are cables running up, alternating with little hearts, and seed stich made from purls in the right places. I am on my second ball, and thankfully found my very very enlarge photocopy of the pattern, so I'm not as dizzy now as I was on the first ball. The original chart is about 2" high on a letter-sized page...just a wee bit hard to see when I'm trying knit across the pattern repeat twice (knitting in the round).

Also in the works, finishing off some projects to be mailed - 2 baby boleros for friends having babies NOW...hope I can get them in the mail before the grow too big.

Project Update

A quick summary of recent projects:

MAY:

Leigh Radford's book "One Skein" came out and I started knitting right away.

The footies were first done in Lorna's Laces Worsted Weight Yarn according to the pattern except that I knit a couple of rounds first before starting the cable, so mine are a bit ruffled at the top. The kitchener at the end of the pattern is horrible because the pattern says to leave 8 stitches total on the needles. I think this should be 8 on each needle, otherwise you end up with pointy toes. Since I was making this for me, it was ok because my big toe fits into the pointy part of the pointy toe.



Later, I made a second pair for my friend and knitting mentor Juanita in this Blue Moon Fiber Arts Worsted Weight yarn in blue/tan colorway with an adjusted pattern and more stitches on the needle for the kitchener - much better, and a way better fit. With the smaller needle, the material is denser, so it doesn't squidge out when I walk on my floor, like the first pair. I'm thinking of ripping those out now and doing them over.
Yes, I really did make a pair, and I spoiled the surprise by having to ask her how long her foot was, but she is happy and will have them for her birthday in the fall.
JUNE:

I made this quick baby bolero from One Skein. Really quick, only a couple of evenings..and that was because it took me awhile to position the arms for the seaming. This is a fantastic yarn - from the pattern - Blue Sky Alpacas Organic cotton. I just didn't want to stop knitting with this yarn. It was so soft and wonderful. I did knit the bolero with the "flower" lace pattern. It's a common pattern (as I've found looking at lace pattern books), but I think her instructions are a bit different than most. This is intended to go to a friend in Germany (actually a colleague who I work with) as she is leaving the office in August.

Due to laws there, she can take maternity leave and be out of the office for 3 YEARS! and then, she can return to at least the same level of job that she had before she left. This is because in that culture, it is frowned upon for a woman to work after she has a baby. She should be at home taking care of the child during the formative years. I love that policy! Of course, workers also receive 6 weeks of vacation per year AND they don't have to earn it! so, they could just take the first 6 weeks off of the year if they wanted.
sigh..I love these american rules.

summer's here

So, summer's here, and sadly, I have not posted since March! bad bad blogger.
I have been knitting, however, my pc crashed a couple of weeks ago, so I have to re-take my pictures all over again.

Last week, the Knitting Bee shop had a Customer Trunk Show. So, the night before I madly knitted a pair of the "Fetching" pattern from the new summer edition of Knitty, in a pink-orange color of the wonderfully soft Cashmerino Aran - just one ball. It was fantastic, and I made a wonderful pair. Hope to add the pic soon.

Also, I have started on the Lotus Blossom Tank from the Summer Interweave in Madil Eden Bamboo in the light blue (dutch boy, I think it's called) color. This bamboo is luxuriously soft and wonderful to the skin. I'm excited to knit with it and other than the lace project being one of my first, I hope to have it done quickly so I can wear it.

alpaca hat

went to cozy ewe for the first time ever last weekend on saturday. What a shop-it's brimming with yarn! I found a really soft yarn that I thought would be perfect for a perk-me-up felted hat with brim. Frog Tree Alpaca. I bought a beet-root red color, and a pleasing hot pink. Thought I'd do stripes.

By wednesday evening, I was tucking in the ends and it was ready to go.
I'll post a photo soon of the "pre-wash". This was the softest alpaca ev-er, in a worsted weight. Very pleasing and soft to knit with. almost luxurious. I can't wait to see if it's still soft in the post-felt phase.

pics of my socks

finally a few pics of socks I knit after my class last summer. I discovered, they really are too thick to wear inside my winter boots, but they are perfect for lounging around home...

from knitting olympics to shop hop

I returned from vacation well rested and happy. I tried to make it last as long as possible.
In the weeks ensuing, I discovered the meaning of e-mail, and threw myself back into the Shop hop preparations, winding yarn samples.

Here's a pic of some of the yarns:














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