wips – Rush Hour Knitting

Sunday, 4 October, 2020Sunday, 25 October, 2020

Forest Sweater

So a little story. About a year ago I came upon a gorgeous sweater on Ravelry by Natalie Meredith with a gorgeous colorwork forest of evergreens. Since my family runs a Christmas tree farm I am a little, shall we say, obsessed with evergreens and Christmas trees, so I was hooked immediately. Unfortunately the pattern sizing stopped just short of my bust measurements. I messaged Natalie and we had a really nice chat about pattern sizing and she told me that she couldn’t guarantee a timeline but it was on her list to expand the size range. “Great!” I said. “Please let me know!” And then I got distracted by…life.

Fast forward to September, just as I was starting to plan the Christmas hats I knit every year for my niflings. (There’s five niflings now, I need to actually plan and not just start digging through stash on December 1.) And what should appear in my inbox but a note from Natalie that she had, indeed, worked out an expanded size range as I’d requested, and would I be able to test knit.

I probably should have said no, because my schedule is ridiculous. Instead, I ordered yarn, paid for 2-day delivery, and wound and cast on immediately. The Christmas hats can wait. (I got the yarn for them too, don’t worry.)

I usually don’t bother with swatching because I am a daredevil and when you’re doing socks and shawls it’s not usually necessary. But this time, I did a proper swatch and washed it and everything.

And a week and a half later now I’m finally up to the colorwork section. It’s…not going as well, partly because I can’t sit on the couch knitting for hours on end while I watch an entire season of Hell on Wheels in one weekend (new discovery, it’s great, why did I take so long?) and partly because I can’t count. I knit the first two rows of the chart four times. (It’s demoralizing when your six year old nephew can count better than you can.) There was a lot of ripping back, but I think we’re starting

I think I have it figured out now but let’s see how quickly I can power through these charts. It’s getting chilly in New York, and I want to wear this!

Details:
Forest Sweater: Etsy or Ravelry (please use caution when clicking through to Ravelry links)
Yarn: Cascade Eco + Hemp in Jasper (green) and Antique (gray)

Sunday, 21 August, 2011

Raining, Pouring

It has been a very wet week. I spent it catsitting for friends in Queens, which meant a delightfully shortened commute, but now I am home again and catching up on everything.

I did some knitting this week, but it’s secret, so all I can show you is this:

3 down, 7 to go. Soon.

I also got some swag. My friend Rebecca went to Sock Summit, and she brought me back goodies!

There’s some Indigo Dragonfly yarn in there, and Glenna C’s Captain Mal sock pattern (eee!), a skein of Little Red Bicycle laceweight, and some Hazel Knits miniskeins and a delightful little fingerless mitt pattern for them. I hardly know where to begin. Look at this beautiful yarn. Just look at it.

Also, I wanted to introduce you to the newest member of my family, my puppyniece Lucy!

Lucy is a schnauzer-poodle mix, 11 weeks old, and the most wiggly bundle of energy I have ever seen. This picture is a few weeks old now, and she is almost as big as her toys at this point. She will squirm her way right into your heart before you’ve known it. She and Eeyore are already fast friends:

Lucy is very happy to meet you all.

Sunday, 19 June, 2011

Take Me Out

Traveling Sock celebrated Father’s Day by going to the ballpark.

It was a beautiful day for a game. Especially when the home team won 6-0. Sorry, Camden.

The Long Island Ducks are my favorite baseball team, because they are a semi-pro team that play in a reasonably-sized stadium where you can see what’s happening on the field no matter where your seat, because you will not go bankrupt buying crackerjacks, because the first base coach (Buddy Harrelson, for you Mets fans out there) will sit at a table during the fourth inning and sign autographs for kids, because half of the starting lineup is from the Island and I like supporting my community, and because the mascot is a gigantic duck.

Since it was Father’s Day, Quackerjack’s dad Papa jack flew up from Florida to join him (get it?) Their antics never fail to amuse.

I didn’t get much knitting done, since I was coated in sunscreen and still somehow managed to get burned in a few spots. But it was a great afternoon. I love a good ballgame.

Saturday, 28 May, 2011

The Return of the Traveling Sock

Traveling Sock took a little trip today. My friend Vhary has been in town this week (in advance of a move out to San Francisco for grad school) and we met up today in the city and wandered around the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as I had never been there before and Vhary felt it necessary to rectify this.

I took some pictures, as one does.

I love grand cathedrals and churches, and I had a wonderful time wandering in all the chapels and corners with Vhary. Afterwards, she agreed to hold the Traveling Sock for me while we were walking around the grounds:

(This was supposed to be March’s socks. I’m a little behind.)

Once the heat got to be too much, we repaired to a coffee shop and had lunch and lingered over coffee and tea, and then we went to Knitty City, to look at the yarn and the colors. Now, Vhary can knit, but she doesn’t do it often. Her hobby is blues dancing, which is a horse of a slightly different color. But she fell in love with this yarn:

so she bought it, and I am going to make her a shawlette. We discussed patterns briefly. I had one of my Simple Things with me, which she liked but declared not lacy enough. She was fond of the sample Shetland Triangle[rav link] hanging up, but I’m thinking this is not a good yarn for that pattern. Anyone have suggestions, before I hit the Rav pattern database?

Yes, I bought myself yarn too. It’s Madtosh.

You are not surprised.

Sunday, 22 May, 2011

Multi-craftual

I’m working on a bunch of gift knitting at the moment, but I needed a bit of a break.

So I started another project. Startitis? Me? You must be mistaking me for some other knitter.

Say hi to my new train knitting, an Ishbel that I am making in Madtosh Merino Light celebration yarn that I bought the day my new job called to tell me I was hired. I felt like partying, and picking up a skein of yarn and discovering it was named “cameo” (which jewelry I am quite fond of) seemed like a sign. So I bought it, and am knitting it now and I just adore how it’s working up.

I’ve actually done a bit more since I took this shot on my trip home last week; I finished the stockinette portion and am into the charts now. It’s chugging along nicely and I feel refreshed and ready to retackle my gift knitting, which is exactly what I needed.

IN the meantime, my crafty mom surprised me today with these:

City pillowcases! When we went into the city a few months ago to check out those awesome quilt shows, we found these great city-themed fabrics in the City Quilter, my favorite quilt/fabric store in Manhattan. So we got them, and Mom made me a set of pillowcases. Yes, that second one has the subway map on it, and I love it to bits.

This deal we have of trading knitting and sewing with each other is pretty awesome. She keeps threatening to teach me to use a sewing machine, and I keep threatening to teach her to knit, but I think we’re both pretty happy with this arrangement as it stands. At least, I am! Now to see what I can offer her in trade to get her to turn my old tee-shirts into a quilt…

Sunday, 21 November, 2010Sunday, 21 November, 2010

As Seen On The Internet

So you might have heard of my friend Glenna. I knit a lot of her stuff, because her aesthetic and mine have a lot of overlap, and also she’s made of brilliant and awesome and win and whatever else you can think of.

As are these gloves.

NOUVEAU GLOVES

Pattern: Nouveau, by Glenna C [ravelry link]
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, in one of those numbered colorways that don’t tell you anything but I am going to name Pewter
Needles: US 2 & 3 DPNs
Notes: Glenna released this pattern earlier this year, and I promptly went out and picked out yarn with a Christmas gift card and forced my mom and sister to help me pick out just the right color and knit them up over the summer…except for three fingers, and then I ran out of steam for a bit. (It’s always the fingers where that happens, because you have to do them ten times and it just gets to be a little much.) But finally I finished them up this month, and then I needed to have another little break before I tackled weaving in the ends. (Glenna advised me that sometimes she cheats and doesn’t tack everything down on the inside since nobody sees it, but I’m a Virgo and something in me will just not permit that to stand, so every. last. end. was woven in before I could call these finished.)

As you can see, these are lovely lovely lovely. The pattern has a very Jugendstil/Art Nouveau air (the pattern name makes sense now, ja?), and I really love that time period and its style, part of the reason they jumped to the top of my queue as soon as I saw them. The pattern relies on twisted stitches, which is one of Glenna’s trademarks, and they really do pop beautifully, as you can see on the palm here. The motif on the hands is spectacular and I love how it turned out in the Silky Wool:

Between the color and the yarn’s tweediness and matte appearance, I feel like these gloves could have come out of somebody’s trunk, hidden in piles of vintage dresses and hats. In fact, I have lots of yarn still and plans for a cloche to match, because how much fun will it be to wear these with a matching hat?

Before I can start that, however, I have Vestvember to get through. We are making progress, would you like to see?

That is the back, and it’s done. I’m halfway through the front, and I am thinking that we’ll get some progress made on Thanksgiving, since I can’t work on Christmas knitting when the recipients are sitting right in front of me. That would ruin the surprise, and we cannot have that.

But once the vest is done, and the Christmas knitting is done? Oh yes, hats. I am excited, guys.

Monday, 8 November, 2010Monday, 8 November, 2010

Socktacular

I HAVE DONE IT.

I have finished the Herringbone Socks.

I even have photographic evidence.

HERRINGBONE SOCKS

pattern: Herringbone Socks by Kristi Schueler, from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn.
yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering in Harvest
needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
notes: FINALLY. Part of why these took so long was that I’d get frustrated, put them down, and go work on something else (like the pile of Christmas presents I am slowly accumulating). The other part is that this is not a pattern you can do mindlessly. Unlike stockinette sock, which I can work on while I browse Ravelry or read something on my computer or my Nook, these babies demand your complete and absolute attention. So there was no picking these up and idly knitting a few rows whenever I sat down at the keyboard like I usually do.

But you know what? That’s OK. They were a great challenge, and I’m always going to feel badass when I put these on, because they did take a lot of work, and they came out spectacular.

See? They’re beautiful. They fit great, and they are so, so lovely with this yarn (and how much do I love this yarn? It’s squishy and wonderful, and I have been happily contemplating what to do with the other two skeins in my stash, both also gifts from my wonderful friend Jennifer, who is my hookup for all the awesome Canadian stuff). If you have a chance to try Tanis Fiber Arts, incidentally — grab it and do not let go.

I would absolutely do this pattern again, but I am thinking it would be best saved for a long trip. The repeat is only two lines and once you have it memorized you are good to go. When you’re stuck on a train or plane or in a car for a long stretch of time, this is the perfect sort of thing to keep your brain occupied. So the next time I’m planning a long trip if I start taking polls on what to knit, remind me I sad this, will you?

I am still working on Christmas knitting (five down, one in progress, two to go, maybe three if I’m feeling really generous…) but November started and I realized I’ve never done NaKniSwiMo or however it’s abbreviated (National Knit a Sweater Month, a takeoff of NaNoWriMo) but I also realized that with all this holiday knitting…that might be overreaching.

So instead I cast on for a vest. This is Bryony, and she’s being knit up in some Cherry Tree Hill Soft Angora, a bag of which I found in a sale bin at Maryland a few years ago. (It really is soft. Trust me.) I might be playing roulette with my yardage. I might also not necessarily finish this in a month with ALL THE KNITTING there is to do.

But there might also be a really, really awesome cable in this pattern.

Mmm, look at that beautiful cable. Soft, squishy cables, just what chilly November days need. If you need me, I’ll be surrounded by yarn.

Saturday, 23 October, 2010

Sock Rut.

I have been in a sock rut. I will admit it.

I knit Jaywalkers, and 3×1 broken rib socks, and stockinette socks. It gets a little boring sometimes. So when Jen gave me a spectacular skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight in Harvest for my birthday, I decided maybe I should shake it up a little.

This is a pretty intense yarn, and it deserves a pattern to show it off. So I went with the Herringbone Rib Socks, which was published in the Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn book that came out about a year ago (and was also released as a freebie through Knitting Daily). I cast on for the small size, knit the leg and heel, and tried it on… and discovered it was too small. To the frog pond it went, and we cast on again for the large side.

A whole month later, I finally have a finished sock.

Now that I have got a sock (and a half) of this pattern done, I finally feel like it’s clicked. There was a lot of tinking involved, which makes me feel kind of ridiculous, because it’s only a two-row pattern, for Bob’s sake, but it took a long time for me to feel comfortable with it. I think I’m finally there, though:

I have already cast on the next sock and it’s going so much faster now that I finally know what I’m doing, but I keep stopping to put on the first sock and admire it.

Perhaps I should stop doing that and knit faster, so I can wear both socks at once? That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?

Tuesday, 14 September, 2010

Buzz buzz

Four days…

…and I have cast off. Fastest shawlette ever, overlooking the part where I knit the mini version and I had a lot of time to knit in the car so of course I’d finish it so quickly. It’s not blocked yet, but I figured I would show it off anyway, because HOMG IT’S SO PRETTY.

To explain from my last post: Les Abeilles is french for “bees,” and the motif on the bottom is exactly that:

See? Bees. Bees, knit up in a colorway called Wild Flower Honey, which was spun for me by Melissa, which name comes from the Greek for… bee. See what I did there?

I have a fair amount of yarn left, so I am making up some mitts to match. Epic Rhinebeck yarn accessories are epic, folks.

Saturday, 11 September, 2010

Road trip

So I am in Vermont, because that is where my sister is. Visiting her is such a trial:

This is where we went apple picking. The orchard overlooks Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.

I ate one right off the tree. It was delicious.

In the car on the drive up, I started a shawlette:

This is Les Abeilles by Anne Hanson, which I am knitting up in the magnificent “Wild Flower Honey” yarn spun up for me by Melissa. There’s a bit of a joke in those choices, and I will give you a virtual cookie if you can figure it out. (Pipe down, Missy, I know you know it already.) I think it will make a wonderful Rhinebeck shawl.

Can I just say, knitting with Melissa’s handspun is so much fun? Can I? Good. Because it is, bouncy and soft and I’m having too much fun with the colors. I can’t wait to see how this shawl looks when I’m done.