Knitting Pharm

A noteworthy road trip

What on earth would possess a moderately sane woman to road trip 4 hours with 2 kids and no hubby, to a house with one more kid and 2 fabulously plucky dogs?

BFF!

Nancy lives far too far away, so a visit with her is an EVENT.  With my hubby taking off for work meetings and another trip home awaiting me next week, I took my opportunity to visit the South Shore, my best friend Nancy, her adorable husband Paul and even more adorable son Charlie.

First off, Nancy-related knitterly content.  She loved her felted clogs.  I finished the knitting and felted Paul's while there, and he loved them.  Charlie's hugely-belated birthday sweater fit him like a dream.

AND...

Done like dinnah!  Now I can stop blogging about my Handmaiden Ottawa sweater and wear it!

Details?  Handmaiden Ottawa, Cape Breton Highlands colourway, 3.75 mm needle, top-down raglan with square neckline and shawl collar.  Yarn-over raglan increases.  K2, P2 ribbing on collar, cuffs and bottom band.  Waist shaping and no bust darts gave me the happy medium I had been seeking in previous posts.  Fits my yooge chest and is just that right length for my torso.  It took the better part of three hanks (1950 yards) and is worth every dime.

Fate wanted me to shop for yarn today.  I chose the Annapolis Valley route home.  Despite the fact that daughter #1 barfed in a cereal box somewhere around Weymouth, it was a very worthwhile decision to have made.

Highway 101.  Stuck in slow traffic.  Exit 11:  Wolfville.  Should I go to Gaspereau Valley Fibres today?  No, Deb.  You're knitting from your stash.  Keep going.

Exit 10:  Grand Pre.  I can still double back slightly to GVF.  Should I?  I almost do, and then decide to be a good girl.

Exit 9:  Gaspereau Valley.  I had never noticed this little sign, as I think of this as the Hantsport exit.  Fate is intervening.  Fate wants me to go to the magical barn of yarn.

Crap.  I am en route.

The delightful Julie is unpacking several large bags from the Fleece Artist.  I learned something very important today.  When Kathryn cleans house, everyone wins.

Mill ends, end of line, seconds, odds and ends.  Unlabelled, so very much like a treasure hunt.  Selling by overall weight.

Buy a little bit?  10 bucks per 100g

Buy a bit more?  9 bucks per 100g

Be smart and buy 1000 g or more?

8 bucks!

I went loony looking for any and all sock yarn.  I had to stop before even attacking the third bag.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Haul.

 

Here it all is, looking so very happy together.

I may go and look up the colour names eventually, but for now you have to contend with my dorky interpretations.

This one's Sea Wool.  Sea Wool, people!

Do you need a minute?  (I can wait.)

Don't know and don't care what this one's called, it's going to be Hedera in the coming weeks.  Just shy of 100g.

Olive green.  Unsure of the colour's name, but I have named her Harlot's Choice.

I have already cast on with this gal.  At 125g, she'll make a really nice sized pair of socks.

Charcoal and chocolate and another pair of socks.  Any votes on which pattern to work?

Chocolate covered purple, tipping the scales at over 200g.  Maybe some knee socks, or maybe some holiday generosity.

Another big 'un, this time in red semi-solid.  I heart it so.

The Queen Mum of all finds.  A generous pound.  Julie says enough for an adult sweater, but it may have to be for one smaller than myself.

Total weight was just shy of 1800 g.  I saved a TON of money today.  That's all I have to say about that.

Eleven years ago today

 

Wow, we look so young.  Hard to imagine we are celebrating 11 years of marriage today.  Lots of ups, a few downs, and two beautiful children later, we have a beautiful life together and can't wait for the next eleven!

I'm sure you're all bright enough to put it together, but the sunshine in February is through the wonders of a Weddingmoon.  I was in my last year of uni and we really wanted to get married, so we took of to Jamaica for my spring break and returned as man and wife.  No muss, no fuss, no guests, no fights.  Our witnesses were the musician and the gal from the sales office.  We returned from our post-wedding dinner and phoned our parents.  We had informed them down to the hour of our wedding plans, so they had enjoyed a drink in our honour at the moment we were getting hitched.

Back to life, back to reality.

I had a very productive knit while in NB with my family last week.  Elfine socks were done within about 18 hours of arrival.  No photos, since they found a recipient before even finding their way off the needles.  (Hi, A!)

Great pattern, although I would have stabbed someone without a chart.

 

So there it is.  Not my pattern, the work of a very talented designer, so please, please, please respect her copyright, 'mkay?

I also did my Knitty re-knit, so no photos of that one.

Will this pattern ever get out of my head?

 

(I'm guessing not.)

The little girl has been begging for "slippers like Mommy's, but pink", so I snuck into Cricket Cove and got the pattern for her.

The before:

 

The after:

 

and the sheer joy:

I did up a pair for BFF Nancy, with whom I'll be celebrating Oscar night on Sunday.  These are in the frogged Cascade 220:

The colour looks a bit off in the photo, but they're maroon/black twist and black.  I forgot to take an after photo, but surely this before and after felting thing is getting a bit tedious, yes?

Next up in clogs is a pair for Dr. Paul, Nancy's loving husband and the cutest dentist in the world.  I think I'll do his in the dark grey Rustic with black accents.

I left my sweater here when I traveled, and am anxious to get going on it again.  I frogged back to the armholes, since, as you may remember, MY SWEATER WAS TOO LARGE FOR MY BUST!  MY HOOTERS WERE TOO SMALL FOR MY SWEATER!

I really must get a copy of Big Girl Knits to get some tips on fitting and sizing, because I still see a bit of trial and error in my future.  I'm thinking since I did the raglan increases to the very largest point needed, I don't need darts at all, just waist shaping.  I'm giving that a try.  If I need to rip back again, I'll get a copy of BGK before my next attempt.

For now, I have worked one sleeve and I love the fit of it, so I'll do the other one if I get frustrated or stuck.  The sleeve is decreased along its entire length, so it's generously sized without being bunchy.  I am pleased.

Happy Tuesday.  Happy February 20th.  Happy knitting, all!

Handmaiden Hangover

After my depressing last post, I did not fling myself into a dye vat.  I did not impale myself on a bamboo needle.  I did not bury my head in a pile of Handmaiden Ottawa and cry for very long.

I have been in my favourite state, too busy knitting to blog about it!

I began swatching.  And measuring.  And crunching numbers.  And I came up with this scheme for a top-down raglan.

Doesn't look much like a pattern, does it?

The end result is a deep square neck, perfect for a shawl collar.

Much has been worked, much has been frogged, and there is much of both to follow, but lookie!

Delicious, faded, stripey goodness:

 

I opted for a slightly smaller needle than suggested, 3.75 mm instead of 4mm, and the result is a slightly denser but still soft fabric.

Other features:

The shawl collar was knitted (purled, actually) onto the bottom edge as it was worked, to produce what I think is a nice, clean bottom edge with one less seam.

The inner layer of shawl collar was stitched onto the inner surface, in the only sewing this sweater will see.

Yarn over raglan increases, which show far more when the sweater is worn than when it sits flat.

Short row shaping for The Monstrosities.  (That is not really a boob where marked, just a conveniently available ball of yarn.)

Up next is finishing the first sleeve and working the second before turning my attention back to the body.

The body is worked down to just about the waist, but it needs to be ripped back and tailored a bit more.  Gauge swatches are unkind to me of late.

All part of the process.

The bust darts are well-placed, but are a bit too big.  Holy cow, my boobs are too small for my sweater.  Let me say that again:  my boobs are too small for my sweater!

I am absolutely itching to get back to some sock knitting.  I have decided to try Anna Bell's Elfine socks for my Garnet Dreams STR, and I got a package of something quite wonderful yesterday.

Sea Wool!

And here they are in all their glory:

Periwinkle on top, Amethyst on bottom.

I simply must put in a plug for one of my favourite online yarn vendors.  As odd as it seems to purchase Nova Scotia yarns from a supplier in Toronto, I have always received the best service possible from Red Bird Knits.  Robyn is a nice person, a great designer, a yarn enthisuast, and keeps a terrific stock of the best yarns.  She also runs a sock club that I have so far but not much longer been able to resist.  See some of her sock club designs here.

Tomorrow I'm off to NB for the balance of the week.  Lots of knitting, likely no blogging.  Happy VD, all!

Knitting 2, Deb 0

Frog city.

Hours of work undone.

Piles of Handmaiden meticulously rolled up.

Nothing on the needles.

No time for many details.  Suffice it to say, the misshapen blob of a circle fell to the back of my knees, and the "drapiest" part of the shaping fell into a bustle formation in the vicinity of my posterior.

That's only one of the stories.

I answered a perfectly innocent question about a recent project:  How did you make out with Tubey in Cascade 220?

My answer?  Looks good, but not the best on my body.  I don't have the heart to photograph myself in it.

WTF?  All that effort, and I don't even see fit to be photographed in it?

I don't think so.

It will make excellent clogs.

Listen to the damned yarn

Yes, yarn can talk.  Yes, you should listen.

STR: Great yarn.  Anastasia: Great pattern.

Together, not so much.

Here's the only photo, taken immediately pre-frog.  I got a couple of inches up the leg and realized the pattern was competing with the colours.  I plan to do this sock again sometime in a solid or semisolid.

I immediately cast on to do a plainer sock, then kept changing my mind about how plain the pattern should be.  Knit-frog-knit-frog.  STOP!

I'm waiting for my first installment of STR club to possibly inspire me.  Despite having nothing wearable to display my recent efforts, this is still the prettiest, best-feeling yarn I've ever worked with.

As for the 2mm needle?  Big meh.  One of my many reknits was done on a 2.5mm, and was just as nice and firm.  As an added bonus, the 2.5mm needle does not make my blood pressure soar.  Plus, the 2mm cable did finally pull from the join for good, so I think it's not meant to be.

For those inclined to work my revised Anastasia (and for my future reference), I did work up the other chart.  Here they both are:

My ILs will be gifted well for their recent (she) and upcoming (he) birthdays.  The before and after of this process will never cease to amaze me.

Before:

and after:

However, I think the best way of all to photograph and unfelted clog looks something like this:

Anna is ten months old.  Anna presses her cheek to yours when you pick her up.  Anna is delicious.

And Spring Knitty?  Not so much, although I got some feedback for a potential re-knit for Summer 2007.  I feel a bit like the kid not invited to the party, but I'm still 2 for 5.  I will be back.

More to follow, including my bastardization interpretation of yet another Knitty pattern.  Happy Monday, all!

January's Head-to-toe

In an effort to keep my resolution of keeping a better log of projects, here is what I can piece together for finished and ongoing objects for the month just passed.  See the archives for photographic proof of the items below.

For the head:

• STR "Elf Barf" hat
• 2 caps in Knitpicks shimmer
• Monkey cap
• Laurel's cap in leftovers from Monkey cap
• Lorna's Laces spiral cap
• Lorna's Laces Pomotamus cap
• Dubai Stretch Shedir cap

For the body:

• Amy's Dubai Stretch Hedera sweater

For the feet:

• Felted clogs for me
• Felted clogs for he
• Ripple Weave socks in Great Adirondack Soxie
• Front-gusseted socks in Online Highland Colours
• Falling Leaves in Opal handpainted
• Pomatomus in Knitpicks Ballet Dancing
• Monkey in turquoise Cherry Tree Hill
• Christian's ribbed socks in Knitpicks Essential
• Flow Motion socks in Opal solid
• Socks for submission to Knitty for Spring issue

Accessories:

• Just one more felted backpack

Currently on the needles:

• Circular cardi in Handmaiden Ottawa
• STR socks in Garnet Dreams
• Felted clogs for MIL

Sent to the frog pond, never to return:

• Flower Basket Shawl in Knitpicks Shimmer

More to follow in ongoing projects, namely a new and original way to photograph an unfelted clog and the graph for STR sock #2.  For now, there's grilled cheese to be made.

What did you create with sticks and string last month?