The Age of Brass & Steam

Quite a name for a shawlette, huh?

This was quick & brainless – just the way I usually like my knitting. But it was my first tryst with Rowan Denim, & I had a great time. We might have to meet up again soon. Thankfully, I have 4 skeins left.

Stashitty-stash

I wanna show you some stash, most of which is not new but I just got around to photographing.I’m really jazzed about this skein right now:

It’s Island Yarns, which I bought in 10/09 during our 10th-anniversary trip to Bar Harbor. It’s 70% wool 30% silk, bulky weight, about 175 yards or so. I’m borderline frantic to knit it up as a spring accessory, & last night tried casting on Pequito with it. I made a few mistakes in chart B and ripped the whole thing out to start again, but I really don’t think I have enough yarn. Especially considering the size 9 needle I used was a little too tight, and I’d go up to a 10. Grrrr.

I’m not sure about a hat with the silk content. I don’t want it to stretch out. I’d love a shawl/ette, but can’t find a pattern. Maybe mitts? Not interested in a cowl or short scarf. Can anyone help me??

Next – my 6 skeins of Rowan Denim:

I snagged them on sale for a shawl after I was inspired by Stephen‘s Denim Boneyard shawl (which I got to fondle in person.) I have this yarn queued up for Maya.

Central Yarn Shop in Portland is great for yarn like this:

They often have baskets in the floor full of off-dyelot skeins of Lamb’s Pride Worsted or Bulky. This isn’t the first one I’ve snagged from them. Quincy, maybe? (Speaking of Quincy, I got to fondle and try on a sample at The Woolery & fell more in love. I think I’ve been hesitating due to its “interesting construction”, but no more.)

Last but not least, 8 skeins of Reynolds Cricket at $2.49/skein from Marden’s:

But dammit! It’s DK weight!! So 900 yards is NOT a great amount of DK weight for my needs. Basically too much for some things (which is fine of course) and too little for others (like the short-sleeve pullover I was envisioning.) I have a question – Rav calls it DK weight with a gauge of 5sts/1″ on size 5 needles. Doesn’t that make it worsted on 5s? An inch is an inch, right? I’m confused about gauge and different yarn weights these days.

Still, beautiful yarn with a really nice feel in a favorite colorway of mine – blue/grey. Into the stash it goes.

My stash got a little bigger.

My fabulous friend Dub, who knows who she is, gifted me 2 deh-ca-dent skeins of Dream in Color Groovy. Yes, I’m very happy about it.

This weekend I got to visit The Woolery, which is an excellent LYS. I highly recommend it. I bought yet another skein of sock yarn I coveted but didn’t need. I will not apologize.

Instead, I bought a book full of new patterns especially for sock yarn. Problem solved.

The Yarn Lounge & Carytown

We stopped in Richmond partly to let me swing by The Yarn Lounge. I’m glad I did! It’s a cute, well-stocked shop……..well, except for the temporarily-empty local yarns basket!! My main target! Wah.

The button selection was fabulous, and displayed on a fun IKEA magnet board. I snagged a set of 6 for a baby pea coat I’m knitting up for a Christmas gift. I love finding the perfect buttons.

Here’s a small part of their New England Knits trunk show! Yay! I like how they have the Derry Cowl separate from its matching raglan:

The 3000-block of West Cary (or, apparently, Carytown!) is a super-fun, retro, art deco little gem, which was an added bonus! Seemed like an area on the comeback trail. The World of Mirth is a fantastic toy store that I coulda spent waaaaaaay more time in:

And then there’s Chop Suey:

And a fun old-fashioned cinema:

It was raining, or else there mighta been more/better photos. But we enjoyed our short stop in Carytown.

Scrunchable Scarf

Deck the halls with handknit gifts, I say! Here’s one I CAN show you, as it is for O’s teacher:

This is the Scrunchable Scarf, which is a free pattern found on-line. It’s the second one of these I’ve knit, and this time I seemed to figure out the selvage stitches. I slipped the first stitch of every row, and made the last stitch a knit stitch. To accomplish this, I added two stitches to the total number cast on.

I used a whole skein of Mmmmmmmalabrigo worsted, & I think the scarf could stand to be a little longer. But it’s soft, squishy & very scrunchable. Yummmmmy.

Herbivore

Herbivore is my first WestKnits FO, and I love it. It’s also my first Malabrigo Sock FO, & I love that too. The colorway is Rayon Vert.

The pattern is very intuitive after a few rows, and I love the way it naturaly curves around your shoulders. It’s an easy knit, and it can be very easily lengthened or shortened depending on how much yarn you have. I added a few repeats and a garter ridge at the end, and still had some yarn left.

What can I say about Malabrigo? Really? It’s da bomb. Period. My only regret is that I don’t have blocking wires. I think that would have improved the final result, but I’m still a very satisifed customer.

Cilla’s Shawl

Cilla started treatments this week for amyloidosis, a rare condition related to mylenoma. While it is not a form of cancer, treatment will include chemo and a stem cell transplant. As my family has been down this treatment road before, we very sadly can relate. All too well.

When I got this news about our family friend of 30 years, I jumped into action one of the only ways I know how – I knit her a shawl.

It’s Laura Chau’s Simple Yet Effective Shawl, knit from Adiago – a wool sock yarn from Yarn Place. It’s self-striping, which I thought went well with this simple pattern. The color reminds me of sunshine.  She was so thankful to receive it, and I am thankful for the ability to make this small gesture of love and support.

A Wonderful Wallaby for……..Who?

It’s done! And it flew, by the way. I can’t say for sure why, but I finished it in about 5 weeks with much work on many other projects in between. Here’s the rav link. And here’s the sweater:

C,mon.  How damn cute is that. It was knit as a size 10 for C, & it came out as a size 5/6. Annoying, but it all worked out – lucky O. I used Cascade 220 from the stash and love how the color combo and rugby striping came out. Fun.

Let’s see if I can remember the few mods I made………I used the YO pouch-start mod discussed here. I also did a classic hood increase up the back, every other row, for about 16-20 rows – don’t remember. The patterns has you add all the sts evenly across the first row of the hood, which I did do as instructed for the sleeves and waist. I closed off the hood using kitchener stitch…..the pattern might call for that.

So that’s 2 Wallabies down, & more in the future! But next time, I’ll size up.

An Easter Miracle

See my banner above? That was sock #1. And I was so happy with sock #1 that I made it my banner. Sock #2? DONE! They’re both done! It was an Easter miracle! After nine months, a pair of socks was born on Sunday.

{Flat-enough feet?}

I love this yarn (see Navajo Sky) and I love the pattern. Why nine months, you ask? No reason, really. Part of it was that it was night-only knitting (that is, kid-free, I-must-concentrate knitting). The yarn is local and gorgeous and soft, and I love these colors. The pattern was easy to memorize and recognize, providing just enough interest without burning the few brain cells I have left. It’s a great pattern for handdyed or varigated yarns – it really shakes up the coloring. Fun stuff!

FO: My First Magic Loop Socks

The socks are done and in record time for me – 20 days from start to finish with lots of Wallaby work in there too. Granted – they’re in stockinette stitch, which helped too. But I think I’m sold on magic loop!

This shot here shows the colors more truthfully:

It seems to flow more smoothly than socks on double pointed needles, and maybe even more than socks on 2 circulars, although I can see now how that technique and magic loops really are pretty similar. I used this pattern and turned to my magic loop booklet when I needed a little heel help.

The yarn was excellent! I won it from Knitting Mama, & then proceeded to beat the living hell out of it while attempting to wind it. What a clusterfuck. But all’s well that ends well, and I have maybe a quarter to a third of the skein left! It’s soft merino in fun colors, dyed by a group of Ohio mommies. Love it.

Next up on the sock front – my first attempt at 2-at-a-time with DH as the guinea pig. Here’s the yarn, here’s the pattern. Squueeee!