Rowan Holiday: Part 4

With the end of this month, I am sad to say that I failed to complete the Lamarr Gloves on time.

I have knitted both gloves and they have been pressed, but I have not yet found time to go out and get some really nice buttons that will look awesome against the luxurious cashmere that they have been knitted from.

Whit that, i have decided to rework the challenges that I set for myself a bit because I find that going month by month is a bit stressful at times, and is taking some of the fun out of just sitting down and knitting a nice project.

I will post again soon in the new year with my idea on the next challenge I will set for myself.

Until then Happy New Year!

Exploring Another LYS: The Artful Ewe.

Set in the middle of downtown Port Gamble, I found a yarn and fiber store like nothing I have ever been to before. The Artful Ewe, sells yarn and fiber, but not any of the major brands your would find in a yarn store. In face all the yarn and fiber sold in the store is dyed and prepared by the owner of the shop. This makes it an interesting stop on any knitters travels through the Olympic Peninsula.

The owner is friendly and very helpful, making it a nice place to visit and look at the books that are found in the store. Unfortunately for me, I forgot my wallet and had to borrow some money from my Husband so that I could buy the Bombyx silk top that I fell in love with.

I will have to return again to the store, but next time, I will remember my wallet.

And if you should stop in, don't forget to pet the little dog.

Rowan Holiday: Part 3.

I know it has been a long time since I have talked about my lovely Lamarr Gloves, but I have been quite busy with the season, and other things.

I have however, managed to knit the second glove and as of this post I am blocking it, and am waiting for it to dry completely before I join the side seam and begin working on the button holes that will complete this month's challenge and make my goal a reality.

I just need some very fabulous buttons for them now.

A Change of Pace: Christmas Ornament 2009

Every year I try to make a new ornament for our tree, and this year I went a bit plainer with my ornament. I decieded to the the swarovski crystal beads stand out and toned down the size 11 cylinder beads. I think it is a great design overall and I love how it turned out. I am sad however, because I cannot make any more as the Swarovski Crystal beads on the edge of the ornament are Vintage and it took me a year to track down the ones I used in this ornament.

I am pleased with the look and how nicely the ornament hangs on my tree.

Rowan Holiday: Part 2

With all the excitement and the chores that come with the Holiday Season, I have had a hard time finding any spare moments to just sit and Knit. However, whenever I do, I just go for hours.

This Month I will feel like I have accomplished something if I finish my gloves by the end of the month, and really feel good if I manage to get started on another project. However, between my annual tradition of making a new Ornament for the tree every year, wrapping presents, baking, and shopping, I have found the work to be slow going.

I did however, manage to complete most of the first glove, but I am now worried I will not have enough yarn to complete both gloves. I don't mind though, it gives me a cheesy excuse to go back to the yarn store.

Rowan Holiday

It's that time of year again, sleighbells, twinkling lights, beautifully wrapped presents with shimmering bows, and stressing ourselves out trying to keep the dog from lifting his leg to the Christmas tree (Yes, I know, we brought the toilet indoors). It's also that time of year the we return to the traditions that have ben handed down to us from generations before.

It was all of these thoughts passing through my mind that made me have to really sit down and think about this month's theme. i sat next to my fireplace with a nice cup of tea, when i looked down at the coffee table and saw the latest copy of Rowan Magazine. My solution was literally staring me right in the face. Why not have a month devoted to the gorgeous patterns found in Rowan Magazine? Genius!

And thus, Rowan Holiday came about, but what were the restriction to be?

I decided yarnwise, it would be and Anything goes sort of deal, But the patterns had to be from a Rowan Magazine. I was going to require Rowan Yarns in this theme, but after visiting several local yarn shops, I realized how expensive Rowan yarn is. (I have made plans however to knit a project using Rowan yarns, but that will have to wait until later.) Also, with Christmas just around the corner, my budget would never recover from that blow.

With all that said, I have decided to ease into the month by knitting the Lamarr Golves from Rowan Magazine 44. I want to knit them with luxurious Mongolian cahsmere and silk by Jade Sapphire. I now just need some really pretty buttons to go on them.

NOROvember: Part 5

With November coming to a close, I am happy to say that I have finished the lace tam and scarf set. And with that, I am even more happy to say that I have completely cleared my stash entirely of Noro Yarns. Which made more room for more yarn, and sadly, I have already filled that gap.

In other words, I met my goal for this month.

Overall, I was happy with how both the silk Garden and Auroura knit up. But while knitting, I came across a small problem with both yarns. I would find a knotted graft halfway through a ball of yarn.

Normally something like that would not bother me, but when you are trying to (A) keep the stripes in a sweater uniform, and (B) get halfway through a row and find a knot in the yarn, it can get a wee bit iritating after a while.

However, I managed to get past all the knots and create four very nice garments. However, I don't think I will be knitting with noro anymore.

NOROvember: Part 4

With the completion of my sweater, I moved onto the lace tam and scarf set by Susan Rainey. I thought this would be the perfect project for the Noro Auroura because the simple lace pattern would not get lost in the varegation of the yarn, and it would use nearly all six hundred yards of the yarn. Both of these factors made this pattern a good choice for my yarn.

I started with the tam to ensure that I had enough yarn for both the tam and scarf. Mainly becuase scarves tend to get away from me, and I didn't want to use up too much yarn on the scarf accidentally.

One thing about the tam I liked, was how fast if knit up. It seemed that as soon as I cast on the required stitches, I was done and blocking the tam over a standard dinner plate. I even added the I-cord topper to the center of the tam for good measure.

I cast on and began the scarf then, and by the fifth repeat of the lace pattern, I noticed how nice the edges of the scarf looked. I think the psuedo I-cord edge really created this neat looking edge in pattern to the rest of the scarf. Also it gave the entire porject a polished look overall.

One thing I did not count on was how long it was taking to knit the scarf. I am confident however, that I will finish the scarf by the end of November.

Across the Sound: Churchmouse Yarns and Tea

Bainbridge Island has always been known for it's small town atmosphere, beautiful scenery, and upscale shops. Chruchmouse Yarns and Teas is not the exception.

The shop is tucked around the corned from the Blackbird Bakery on Madrone Lane, the first thing I noticed was a collection of beautifully knit shawls adorning the front windows, each beaufiully and skillfully knitted by patrons of the shop. I had to stop and admire them for a moment before entering the little white door, and stepping into a knitters paradise.

Once inside, I was greeted warmly by the staff and offered full assistance by one of the ladies working the store. I declined any immediate assistance, but accepted it again later when I needed additional skeins of Punta Yarns Merisoft to knit myself a nice fall colores sweater. I was especially happy to find that the Merisoft was the featured yarn of the month, which saved me ten percent off the purchause (check their websits for future yarns of the month).

I took some time to look aroun the shop for a while and found a literal treasure chest of wonderful yarns and notions. Their selection of luxurious cashmere and silk yarns draw you in with their beautiful colors and sfot textures, while their wonderful collection of sock yarns by Noro and Blue Moon Fiber Arts wow you with their beautiful colorways. I was very pleased, as well, by their extensive of Rowan Yarns and books. I kicked myself for not making notes as to the future Rowan projects I wanted to work on.

Their selection of books and patterns were well organized, as well as all their knitting needles. This proved to the customer that the staff took a great deal of pride in the store, and made even the most novice of knitters feel comfortable.

I even further indulged my fiber addiction with some Kiogu to make a scarf from a Chruchmouse Yarns origional pattern that I found neat.

I would have spent more time just browsing the store, ad taking in all they hadd to offer in teas, and needlepoint projects, but the stormy weather outside was getting worse, and I had to catch the ferry back to the Seattle side of town. I can say however, that I plan to make a future trip across the sound to that little yarn store with the great selection on Bainbridge Island soon.

NOROvember: Part 3

After completing the body of my sweater, I began to work on the sleeves. However, I found that the stripes on the sleeves were coming out wider than expected. I went with it though, mainly because I thought it was interesting, and I liked how it showed the color transitions smoothly, giving the Noro the attention it deserved.

Finishing the sweater went quickly, I worked from the center of the ball out I (I usually work from the outside of the ball in) to add the collar, and followed with a neat pressing of the whole thing using a damp washcloth and an Iron on the wool setting. I finished it by sewing the buttons that I found at Jo Ann Fabrics on it.

I had two balls of the Noro Silk Garden Light left over, which I used to knit a pair of Berry Hill Fingerless mittens by Liz Thompson. While knitting I added three complete pattern repeats to the arm and one pattern repeat to the hand so that the mitts would cover my knickles and keep more of my wrist and arm warm while wearing them.

Overall, the texture of the Noro Silk Garden Light was not very soft in the ball, but while knitting, I found that the knitted texture knitted up quite softly. I will still wear a shirt under the sweater theough.

I am happy to say that I found a project for my six balls of Auroura. With this yarn, I will be knitting a lace tam and scarf set by Susan Rainey. I just how that I can finish it by the end of the month.

Anyhow, the wind is blowing really hard outside, and I don't want to risk a power surge to my computer. (Ah fall and winter in the Pacific Northwest) So that is all for now.

I Want to Live in a Rowan Magazine!

Yes I know, it's so British it comes with tea, but once you open up a copy of Rowan Magazine, you are instantly wowed by the visions of beautiful knitted projects juxtaposed ovar regal country estates, wondrous gardens, or the beautiful fields of Great Britain.

The magazines are so beautiful that I have to read them multiple times to decide which project I wan to work on first, and even then, I still struggle with the decision. Right now I have so many Rowan related projects ready to be knitted that I could devote an entire year of blogs to them.

If only I could live in a Rowan Magazine. *sigh*

NOROvember: Part 2

At this point I have knitted almost all of the body and have added six extra increases to the sweater to accommodate my hips and belly, which I hope will soon get smaller with my diet. I love this sweater so far and love how it is turning out. I especially love the idea of knitting from the top down, as I can try the sweater on as I knit, making sure it fits me before I get too far into it and find I need to knit a larger size which will lead to me swearing and ripping it out.

I especially like that the sweater is knitted in one piece, meaning that there are no sleeves to set. Which is especially good if you hate it when your armholes always end up that 1/4 of an inch too big. Also all the stripes match up on this sweater because it is knitted from the neck down, that way my pink stripes don't become blue stripes across my back. Which can make for some very interesting looks later.

NOROvember

Well, in the theme of this month's challenge, I have gotten off to a strong start, and have decided that I am going to knit the Flair Cardigan by Wendy Benard. I like the simplicity of the pattern and think that it will be wonderful for my Silk Garden Light. There are no cables or intricate patterns to get lost in the stripes and color variations in the yarn and will be a nice, quick project that may just be a fun knit.

However, while reading the instructions for the project, I found that it called for a heavy worsted weight yarn, and the Silk Garden Light was a DK weight, so I knitted up a gauge swatch and found that on the size 7 needles it called for, I would loose 1/4 of an inch every four inches. So I went up in my size needles to a size nine and found that the needles were just perfect for the gauge required.

After that I just had to cast on and begin knitting.

I can't believe how fast it knit up, I completed the raglan shaping of the shoulders and began working on the front. within two days. However, when I saw the colors of the yarn, I decided that the buttons I had picked out were not going to look right on the sweater and I needed diffrent buttons for it. Bummer, because I really liked those buttons.

It's Finishtober: Part 4

This October, I had three projects that had been sitting around half completed, that I wanted to finish. However, I was a bit realistic and set the goal of finishing ony two of them before the end of the month. A goal I was happy to meet by finishing my Husband's Birthday sweater, and the Swirl Shawl. Sadly though, I did not get much work done on the crystaline shawl, but I think sometime next year I will set anoother month for finishing, and that will be the first project I work on.

Now, with that said, I have to announce next month's challenge. I think I may go with a yarn brand that I have stashed away, but never go around to using. Next month will be "Norovember", meaning that I will knit with nothing but yarns by Noro. I will especially be knitting with the Silk Garden Light and the fun and sparkly Auroura.

I have decided to knit a top down cardigan with the Slik Garden Light, but need to do some research yet as to what I want to knit with the Auroura, which may be a bit harder because I only have six balls of the Auroura as opposed to the tewlve balls of the Silk Garden Light I have in my stash. Whatever I come up with will be a great project though.

It's Finishtober: Part 3

It started back in April, and then I got tired of how tedious it became to knit each little section, bind it off, and then cast on the next little section, that I set it aside and let it haunt me for the next six months. like the Tell-Tale Heart, it sat in my basket and reminded me that I need to finish the Swirl Shawl.

So, after finishing Husband's Birthday Sweater, I picked up the shawl and began to work on it again. The process was slower than I would have liked, but once I found my rythm, I noticed that the piece was rather enjoyable to work on.

It blocked up nicely, and really opened up to it's full width and length. I am definately going to enjoy wearing this out and about.

With the completion of this shawl however, I am not left with much time to complete the Crystaline Shawl. But, it will be interesting to see how far I get into it.

A Change of Pace: Husband's Birthday Cake.

Every now and then I do other things beside knit and spin. Sometimes, I find something that I just have to do to make things a bit more interesting. Which is why I give you my husband's Birthday Cake!

Needless to say, it was a huge hit at the party, and I got tons of kudos on my Slimy Green Swamp Monster cake (Note the green icing oozing off the monster's body). The biggest novelty came when you cut into the cake and the monster "bled" red velvet cake, it made for tons of laughs in the end!

I will return soon with a blog about my progress in Finishtober.

Spin to Knit: Mitts

For the first time since I began spinning this last summer, I am finally making yarn for a project. Usually, I spin the yarn and then set it aside, just in case I find a good project to knit later with my handspun yarn. Frankly I would hate to go through all that work just to find that I really did not like the pattern after all. It would feel really wasteful.

However, when I found this fun little kit for spinning and then knitting a pair of fingerless mitts at the Sunset Fibers booth at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, I just couldn't resist! And I loved the colors as well.

When I got home, I grabbed my little Drop Spindle, spread the directions out on my work table, and ran into a snag. The directions called for me to spin the wool at 20 WPI. But what does WPI mean? Is that fingering weight, sport, worsted, or lace? How do you measure that and do you need a special tool for that? I Googled the term and found that there is more than one meaning for that term, and none of them seemed to be related to handspinning. So I contacted a person through Ravelry who could do amazing things with wool and wheel and asked her what WPI meant and how to measure this. I was a bit supried to learn that it was not that complicated of a concept at all.

WPI meansWraps Per Inch, and this is measured by wrapping the yarn around a standard ruler (See above) and then counting how many times, within one inch, the yarn can be wrapped around the ruler (Note: I did not spin the yarn in the photo, I just needed a yarn that would stand out on the blue ruler). A very cool way to measure the weight of your handspun yarn, especially if you are spinning for a paticular project.

Armed with this information, I began by spinning a test strip of yarn and found I was right on for the weight. I continued to spin the yarn, and noticed that one ounce of wool spins up pretty quick! I am now, more than half way through the wool, and beginning to get a bit sceptical that I have enough yarn for both mitts.

I will just have to wait and see.

It's Finishtober!: Part 2

After seven long months of this sweater haunting me, I am pleased to say that I have finally finished the sweater. I bought and started this kit back in March of this year (Bought the kit from the stand run by Philosophers Wool at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo), but got tired of working on it when I found several other projects that I really wanted to make more. However, like a really annoying and naggy mother, it was sitting there reminding me that I needed to put down the other projects and work on finishing up that sweater.

With the sudden cold weather and my Husband's Birthday looming on the horizon, I decided that this was going to be the first project that needed to get done foy my personal challenge for this month (the Renton Knitters KAL helped as well to inspire this challenge).

Anyhow, I am glad to finish this project and look forward to moving on to the next one. Perhaps it will be finished in a short of time as the last one.

And.........

Happy Birthday Husband!

Adventures In Handspinning: Moreno/Tencel

Recently I handpainted my own blend of 50/50 Moreno and Tencel but, after seeing the results I became uninterested in spinning it. I honestly think it was the purple that I added to the greens and blues that threw me, because something just seemed amiss when I really looked at it.

However, the need to empty out my little spinning basket, combined with just being tired of staring at it, drove me to throw it on the ashford (Traditional) and spin it up.

And then A very funny thing happened.

I began to love the colors, even the purple.

I love how smothly the transitions between the colors blended, and how nicely the tencel feels as I work with it. It is so soft, and easy to draft, it almost wants to draft itself as I work. It is so pretty as a single, I can't wait to see how it looks when I spin it and make it into two-ply yarn.

It's Finishtober!

Every knitter has them, those projects that are hanging around the house. Stuffed in bags and boxes, taking up space, and generally haunting us . The spooky thing is that we allow them to build up and sit around until we work on them again.

That is why I plan to finish at least two of the projects that I have sitting around that I have been working on for the last year. At least I only have three I have to work on. Then I can make room for the other things I want to work on, and perhaps leave half unfinished until next October.

1. The Faire Isle sweater I have had going since March.
2. The Swirl shawl (AKA the shawl of insanity)
3. The Crystaline Shawl (AKA that shawl I want to finish. but the yarn annoys me).

Lets see how much I get done!

Oregon Flock and Fiber. Canby, Oregon

I attended Oregon Flock And Fiber Today. It was well worth the long drive from the house and was filled with great things to see and do.

We got an early start from the house and made very good time for what it was worth. (Of course we had to stop for a coffee.)

However, once we arrived, it was well worth all the driving.

After setting up and organizing ourselves, my son and I got to walk around and see everything that was there.

We saw this beautiful, old fountain and I could not resist snapping a picture of it with my son sitting in front of it with his "Shopping Bucket". Too bad I forgot my Claritin, my nose was itching from all the animal dander, and pollen.

This proud fellow was hanging out in the barn with all the other Aplacas, there were also several breeds of Goats, Angora Rabbits, many diffrent breeds of sheep, and a few dogs running around.

I even bought myself an Angora Goat Fleece that had already been washed, I just need to card it before spinning it into a nice yarn for something.

There were also many great stands and booths to look in. Some were well set up and organized, others were just so stuffed to the max with products and it was a bit hard to find anything. I ended up buying from Dicentera, DragonFibers, Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Knitted Wits, and Carolina Homespun. I got a new set of Hand Carders, and a new Drop spindle to work with tool wise, and a ton of dyed rovings and top to spin later. Looks like my winter will be busy.

Next show for me will be Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat in Tacoma, Washington. This way I have time to put some money away for it since it is Feburary.