Zeneedle...needleart as life

Mystery Solved

As soon as the final clue of the Socktober Mystery Sock was published I finished up the toes of my pair. I love them because they are warm, cozy, and very necessary for the cold weather. It was wonderful to have them on my feet all weekend and they made me feel happy, happy.

Kim dyes the most beautiful yarns and I love the depth of color in Pussywillow. It is a soft mix of browns,golds, tans, grays and soft greens. (They really are grayish green.) On-line the colors show up better in a picture of the skein than in the stitches of the sock. The yarn is durable and nicely warm…perfect for a special pair of socks. 

The Sunset colored yarn from Judy is also durable and beautifully dyed.  I love wearing sunshine on my feet in the dead of winter and hope to have this pair finished by the end of the month.  Unlike the first pair, in which I knit both socks at once, I'll knit this pair in the old fashioned way...first sock then the second. I only had one set of the square needles (which I like very much) and didn't want to splurge on a second pair. Second Sock Syndrome has never been a problem because I love wearing my socks too much.  Sock Mojo may or may not hang around through the end of the year because he heard I had a pair of gloves in the planning.  But, I'm hopefully he won't desert me completely. 

Fall's Beauty

This weekends weather felt like a gift, full of warmth, sunshine and the sights of fall.  I ate up every minute of it, drinking in the colors and the fresh air while on my daily walks.

The morning light i\was strong and washed out the sky, but yesterday was so bright and beautiful. The valley trees are now donning their new colors of gold, red and brown.  The best of fall is the rich depth of color in warm earthy shades.  It fills they eye and warms the soul.

 

Yes, the last picture is Daybreak blocked and ready to go. When the lollygagging came to an end my "big grrl" day included some blocking.  It felt good to be able to do more than just sit and knit.  It looks like I'm well on my way to normal.  I'm going to spend some time in the office today, which is a little bittersweet.

Pattern: Daybreak by Steven West
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, colors Stonechat and Boticelli Red
Raveled here

Warm Hands

By now you may have heard that we'll be slogging through enjoying six more weeks of winter.  Few of us are happy about this, but it's all a matter of mindset, right?  Why hate so much of the year, so much of your life by being in a winter of discontent?  One must do what one can to get through the cold and dreary months.  One must find a way to be more contented and I am working on "doing as I say"...it's not easy, as you and I know.

A couple of things that have helped me (I still get plenty of bitching complaining in, however) is the iPod (a book or music), a warm pot of excellent tea, painting the pantry a happy color (the job is coming along-more news later), and knitting cozy warm accessories with a wonderful wool.

The one skein of Beaverslide, leftover from Acer, was the perfect choice for my Breathe Deep Mittens.  This lovely pair proves to be a perfect winter accessory to keep the chill off the hands on extra cold days (perfect for walking the boyz).  The wonderfully warm, soft wool also keeps the wet of  melting snow from coming through during snowball fights and looks good while doing so.  The ability of wool to keep the hands warm and dry always amazes me.

The ribbed cuff is fun to do and it works up quickly, but creating the bubble embellishments on the back of the hand was the bigger delight. As soon as one mitten was finished I had to start the next, not only because I wanted to wear them, but because they were such a kick to knit.

Thank you Kirsten for two wonderful projects (Acer and Breathe Deep) and for helping me tackle the winter doldrums in style.

Knitting a quick project, something I can use and enjoy now, gave me a nice sense of accomplishment, a bit of instant gratification, while in the twists and turns of knitting 12 sweaters.  It also may have been just what was needed to make me a true mitten lover!  I've got my eye on another fun pair and I KNOW I'll make it to spring no matter how long it takes to arrive.

The Parade (Fini Objects 'd Arte) Begins

The weekend was lovely, long and luxurious.  Reality, as in NO long, lovely, luxurious weekends for a long time, bites...it's back to work.  I'm happy to have a job and a load of Fini-ing to show.  Diversions to fill the long weekend before NaKniSweMoDo made for plentiful finishings, just as this past weekend made for lots 'o progress on MoDo (had to make that thing shorter).  Too bad every month can't start with a four day weekend, as that would make knitting twelve sweaters this year a walk in the park.  In any case, let the FO parade begin!

Of course we had to make a trip to our favorite spot this weekend where we caught the Leafy Mitts in action.  The server, a very nice young man, was very interested in my mitts, my knitting in general and he was very good at his job.  You gotta love a guy like that. 

 

You also must love a cushy soft, warm pair of mitts.  Ruth's yarn is so sumptuously wonderful and dyed in such warm and earthy colorways, it's difficult to stop at one pair (I'm watching for more colorways to pop up). I've been wearing them daily and love them more each time there worn.  You can buy the pattern alone, but you won't find a yarn quite as delightful in color and grist as Ruth's. 

Ruth's pattern is available without the yarn on Ravelry or her blog (link above), so if you're like Shelley and would like a plain color, worsted wool works well.  Shelley loves her mitts and cowl (which was a surprise) and finds them warm and cozy. 

Next, up is Nova's Birthday Cowl. I loves the Malabrigo worsted, which feels as good as cashmere against the skin.  The cowl is large so it can be pinned and tucked up tight under the chin (thus, you can't see the crepe-y neck) and this makes it extra warm and cozy.

(Hmmm, that picture looks more like my Aunt G than me. How'd I get so old? It's okay, I kid myself!)

Oh, and yes, that is the Belle Starr hat sitting atop my head...it's another love of mine.  It's made from the leftover cormo yarn from Jadis (FO post soon!) and is pretty, soft, warm and looks good on me, which is always a bonus.  In the second photo you can also see the Bijouterie earring quite well.

 

That concludes todays instalment of the FO parade.  There is more to come as I had quite a bit of time to knit before the end of 2008.  Come back tomorrow, okay?!

NaKniSweMoDo Distraction

While trying to keep myself from starting a NaKniSweMoDo sweater before January 1st, I'm knitting a little of this and that.

Birthday Cowl by Nova in Malabrigo Worsted.  The colorway is Applewood and it's prettier in the knitting than it was in the yarn. This yarn is a delight around your neck.

 

After eying Ruth's Leafy Mitts kit for awhile I ordered it last week. It arrived on Christmas Eve...talk about perfect timing!  I cast on immediately and finished the first mitt in a couple of hours. Christmas morning I finished the second. I did not try to make them matchy, matchy and, in fact, would have liked them a little more fraternal. But, I couldn't love them more! Action photo shoot soon.  

Now....what's next!?

Wired

The second time's the charm.  It was much easier to knit another pair of earrings after reading a few of the tips and tricks in Romi's Group on Ravelry.  Using exaggerated motions to round out the stitches and poking at them with the free needle to make them a little more uniform was very helpful.   The end result was turned out to well, and since it was fun to do, I bought Romi's book.  Inside there are so many different types of knitted jewelry and it will be fun to explore, play and knit my way through all the methods and styles.  I think I'll make a few more pair of Bijouterie this weekend, too.

As A Spinner Spins

After we had our spinning class with JMM at Rhinebeck, Terry posted this simple sentence.

"The more spinning workshops I take, the more I don't know about spinning." 

It was so true! It felt so true. The little we thought we knew turned out to be wrong (or so it seemed).  Throughout the weekend we debated and talked about the class, asked questions of friends and received confusing, contradictory and interesting answers (everyone has an opinion, of course).

One of the first things an experienced spinner tells a new spinner is "Knit with your handspun.  You'll learn about the properties of spinning in the process."  On the plane ride home I had a head full of new knowledge and the desire to make the fingers do the job I knew they needed to. (There is always that space of time between "knowing" what you should be able to do and getting your fingers to DO what you know they must.) I couldn't wait to get home and start spinning.  During the trip I had been knitting with my handspun, Oberon, a blend of alpaca, angora and silk.  It was knitting up beautifully and several people had commented on the color.  It was a skein I had spun early on in my spinning experience, a time when I was flying by intuition. 

This yarn is far from "perfect" and it would have flunked out in any judged show.  BUT, it held together, it was soft and the fabric it made was luscious and luxurious.  Who's to say it was "bad"?  I was enjoying every single stitch of the knitting process.  The yarn had a fairly even grist and did I say how soft it was?  The softness was in large part because of the fiber content, but also because I had had tried a semi-woolen technique (didn't know what it was called at the time) and then, wet finishing as I had read about in Spin Off magazine. The yarn was a two-ply, spun to be a fingering weight and the intent was to knit something lacy.  Because it is soft, because it knits nicely, because it is beautiful and has been used for the intended purpose, I'm calling this yarn one big success.

There maybe hundreds of techniques, rules and ways of creating "perfect" yarns. This doesn't mean one shouldn't work towards improving and perfecting spinning expertise. Since the class I have been practicing spinning in general, trying to incorporate the new knowledge and techniques into my daily spinning and learning more as I go. But, what I've spun in the past is as lovely as any future yarn.  I am a spinner. 

Pattern: Lace Ribbon by Véronik Avery
Yarn: My most incredible, fabulous, soft, perfect as it is, and luxurious handspun
Needle: Addi Lace size 6 (4.00mm)
Time to Knit: Longer than it should have, but the bulk of it was knit in a 3 week time period.
The pattern was fun to knit, relaxingly easy and entertaining. 

So Much is Happening Here!

I don't even know where to begin!  So much has happened in the last few days. Nothing earth shattering or life changing, but get this...I only have two things on my needles and one doesn't count.  I had to take the needles off the Kusha Kusha Scarf to use for the Cardi Cozy (Rav link) and I don't feel bad about setting it aside for now.  It will have its day some day soon. The handspun scarf  is finished...now blocking and not ready for prime time. It too will have its day.  The photo shoot for the Socktoberfest Mystery sock is coming up soon and more news about the Cardi Cozy, too.

The T-Day Mitts are finished and have already been worn, as the weather took a turn, from warm and blustery to cold and rainy.  Winter like weather has descended and the next few days will be a weather roller coaster ride until it settles in. 

So, let's talk about the mitts first.  I'm crazy about this yarn, Shelridge Soft Touch W4 in the Mulberry color. The yarn is soft, warm and wonderful, one I will use again, and since I have (almost) another skein there will be more mitts and/or cowls out of this yarn.  It took just over one skein to make both the Darkside Cowl and the mitts, but that was because I made the mitts a bit longer to cover my long fingers. And, instead of making a simple buttonhole opening, I picked up stitches and knit around for a few rows to cover the thumb knuckle. 

I'm in a bit of a quandary about what to start next.  The Cardi Cozy isn't a good movable project and nothing has stepped up to fill the void. Plus, I'm playing a waiting game to see how things play out between Sock Mojo and Mitten Mojo. This weekend I took a good look at the Maelstrom socks from the Twist Collective and fell toes over heels for them. Sock Mojo did too!  However, I don't have an appropriate sock yarn (more to come on why) BUT,  I do have a wonderful yarn for the Magic Mirror Mittens that will be in the Winter issue of Knotions. The yarn is a Briar Rose wool/mohair that I bought at Rhinebeck.  The pattern should be published today and that just might send the Sock Mojo on his way.  He doesn't want to be second fiddle. I may also have been bitten by the lace bug, so things are heating up between all the Mojo's.

Several grrlfriends have stepped up to do NaBloPoMo and I am thrilled to join in with such a great crowd of friends.  Some are joining NaKniSweMo, too.  The next month is going to be so much fun (at least for me!). I hope you'll stick around to see how all this unfolds.

To Delude or Not to Delude...That is the Question

Daniel was finished just days before I left town and flew East for Rhinebeck.  There was little time to contemplate, or get started on, the next big knit. I also considered that NaKniSweMo was coming up rather quickly after my return home.  Since my Delusions had caused me to cast on a few more projects than is usual, I decided to spend the rest of October in finishing mode. Easy projects for airplane/airport knitting were a must, too. 

A couple of easy cowls made good airplane/airport knitting while flying East. The midnight flight was a killer and knitting while waiting in airports kept my eyes open. Terry will tell you it took considerable effort for me to make it to 9:00pm that night.  While at Rhinebeck little knitting was accomplished but on the flight home I knit like a fiend on Lace Ribbon.  Five hours stuck in my seat, five long killer hours of obsessive knitting, took the scarf from a mere 8" to over 30".  She is beautiful and I'm enjoying knitting with my own alpaca/angora handspun. However, this project is far from the finish line.

After returning home, I did start a pair of Thanksgiving Day Mitts to match the Darkside Cowl. The Shelridge yarn is so soft and lovely and the mitts are a good project for lunch time knitting.

However, the delusions of desire are eating their way into my brain just as I try to keep focus on finishing. While checking a preview of Knotions November issue, I saw the perfect mittens for my recently acquired Briar Rose yarn.  To make matters worse, while walking around Rhinebeck, I saw a few preview sweaters for the November issue of the Twist Collective. The sweater I fell for, and I fell hard for, is knit in Foxfire Fiber's gorgeously soft and textured Cormo yarn.  Oh my, the desire for that sweater is strong and I can't even show a picture!  To make matters even worse, I'd like that sweater to be my NaKniSweMo project AND my delusions deepens as I consider knitting the yoke of the Bohus Sweater – Gray Mist at the same time!

There is more!! As you know...Kusha Kusha Scarf has been set aside and is waiting for attention and there is the Socktober Mystery sock. My greatest desire is to have this sock finished by October 31st.  It has received the bulk of my knitting time, but because the pattern is complicated, and it missed a full week of knitting time. Finishing by my self imposed deadline is going to take a bit of magic.

Bandit!

I'm leaving on the midnight train flight to Georgia to NY and will hop a flight to Boston from there. Wouldn't you know that I would have a major mouth rash incident over the weekend?  The good of it is I now know the cause. The bad is that quinine...as in the stuff of tonic and vermouth (we didn't know it was the flavoring for vermouth, thus the outbreak) will no longer be on my drink menu. The ugly is...well, my mouth and the pain of burned skin. The doctor confirmed it is only a rash (not something worse) and he prescribed a quick dose of steroids and antihistamines, both seem to be working their magic.  I should look fairly normal come Friday.  (whew!)

The other good thing is I can show off the cowl in fine bandit style.

Here it is preblocked, as I just don't have time to block and reshoot.  I love the pattern and the Araucania Ranco Solid which was perfect for both the cowl and the mitts.

I'm totally in love with cowls, mitts and gloves.  They will be my constant winter companions and I love the possibilities of patterns and yarns. Sadly the Darkside cowl needed to be ripped (within an inch of it's life) as there was an err made before the pattern became solidified in my brain. It is now back on track and working up quickly. Gotta love a worsted weight yarn and a quick moving pattern. The yarn, Shelridge Soft Touch W4 is going to be so soft and wonderful around the neck, too.  Cowls should make good traveling companions (no lost DPN, easy to remember patterns and quick work) and I have another in the works.  This lovely Shibui Merino Worsted, on the right, will be knit into a simple design for Blazing Needles.  The yarn is another squishy worsted that is a perfect deterrent to cold and will be extra soft against the skin. 

I guess you've been waiting long enough for the best FO of all.  Daniel will be in this spot shortly after midnight tonight (which is tomorrow). You'll love her, too!