Snow!?!?

Bust out the knitwear, everyone! It's SNOWING!  In PORTLAND! Imagine that!  Let me take this opportunity to put on a little fashion show for you!

My ushanka is knit from Knit Picks City Tweed HW in Snowshoe (how apropos!) - pattern #7 Cabled Hat by Deborah Newton, appearing in Vogue Knitting Winter 2010/11.

My entrelac scarf is knit from Knit Picks Chroma Worsted in Mesa. Chroma makes the most gorgeous entrelac projects. No specific pattern. I have developed my own method of doing entrelac that uses slip stitch edges and invisible lifted increases for the increase triangles. Perhaps a tutorial for that is in order, too?

Chloe's bonnet is knit from Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Espresso and Burgundy, and Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Blush Heather. As you know, I test knit this pattern so it's not available yet, but I will link as soon as it is!

FO Real!

Woo, another WIP has officially joined the ranks of proud Finished Objects.  And in the end, I decided to try and sell it anyway! The weather is exactly right for it, and Victorianesque things seem to be all over Etsy lately.  Now to find the motivation to keep working on that crocheted bedspread for mom...

 

Now available in my Etsy shop!

Second Entrelac Scarf is Up!

Finished the second of my three entrelac scarves for sale on Etsy.  This one was a colorway called "Strawberry Fields," but since it's much more pink than red, I've called it "Berry Patch."

 

Now available in my Etsy shop!

Arcadia Scarf Finished

The first of the Etsy scarves I mentioned is finished! Feast your eyes:

Color Me Coordinated!

While it wasn't planned when I ordered the yarn, the Knit Picks Gloss in Sea Spray coordinates beautifully with the Knit Picks Chroma in Mesa! Behold:

Always, Always Learning

A little less than two years ago, I produced my first extremely irregular square of stockinette stitch in baby blue Super Saver, probably on size 10 needles, although now I couldn't tell you for sure. It's still sitting in a drawer somewhere in my craft room; it's boring, it's uneven, and it's made of the crappiest acrylic known to knitter-kind, but I can't bring myself to do away with it. After months of only being comfortable with a crochet hook and one or two failed attempts at having a friend teach me to knit, I finally, one day, just picked up those shiny, chunky Boye straights and made myself swear that I wasn't going to put them down until I had figured this knitting thing out.

Cause, you know, I can do anything!

And eventually, I did. Of course, I used the cheapest yarn I could find, intending to waste plenty of it in the pursuit of this elusive skill. It didn't take me an entire skein to get the hang of it, but given what I've accomplished as a knitter since that determined day, I think it's safe to say I got my money's worth.

The primary reason I learned to knit, in the beginning, was because I loved crochet, and was producing some pretty snazzy pieces with the hooks, but I was irritated that there was this whole other method that I couldn't do. And not being able to do things kind of pisses me off. Naturally, I have to admire the finished project to want to learn the craft - quilting and embroidery just don't appeal to me, and sewing only vaguely. I am firmly convinced that scrapbooking was invented by some evil genius to destroy all the trees on the planet while convincing crafters they're making something attractive and not at all hideously tacky. But knitting! I was seeing so many fabulous patterns and projects on Ravelry only to be let down when I saw that it was knit and I couldn't get one for myself.

Since conquering the basic knit and purl stitches, I have been utterly fascinated by the wealth of techniques available to knitters. Colorwork, cables, lace, ribbing, twisted stitches, slipped stitches, brioche stitches, entrelac! It was this last one that I had seen often in yarn shops, advertising a particular yarn, or an entrelac class. It looked so complicated and difficult, I was sure that it was something I would only be confident in tackling once I was a very experienced knitter. And then I forgot about it.

But entrelac popped back into my awareness with the introduction of Knit Picks new self-striping yarn "Chroma." Its vibrant colors and long repeats were perfect for an entrelac project, and you know what? I'm a very experienced knitter! Bring it on!

I found a free scarf pattern, chose needles for a slightly looser gauge, and went to town! I made some mods along the way - I abandoned the author's garter stitch selvedge and used a different increase method, but overall, I was thrilled with the pattern. And even more thrilled with the result:


I have been getting compliments everywhere I wear this scarf, and it just makes me want to learn more and more intricate techniques. And I will. Cause, you know, I can do anything!

PS: Entrelac? Not that hard. :P

Blocking the Lavender Leaves

All done! Hope to get a picture of Audrey wearing it when I give it to her on Tuesday. :D

Spiriting 2009 - The Lavender Leaves Scarf

At our school, we have a holiday ritual of "spiriting" - like Secret Santa, except with three gifts over three days, which must include clues to the giver's identity, and ruthless interrogations on the part of the "spiritees" to ferret out the name of their "spiritors" - all based on the clues, of course. The questioner is not allowed to ask directly, "Are you my spiritor?" and in return, the responder is not allowed to lie, although clever circumlocutions are encouraged if necessary.

At an after-school staff party on the fourth day, everyone brings a thank-you gift for their spiritor, whoever that person may be, and we take turns announcing who we believe our spiritor to be, and amusement ensues, especially if someone guesses wrong.

My spiritor turned out to be Audrey, one of the kindergarten teachers, and someone I actually know better than a lot of them, since she has one of my ESL students in her class. My gift to her was more a promise than a gift - a promise to knit her a scarf in any color and texture she desired. She said she loved purple, especially lavender, and would rather have something girly and lacy over something thick and fuzzy. So, after a quick hunt for something pretty and free to download, I cast on! I'm using the same Cascade Heritage sock yarn that I used for my "Plum Fizz" crocheted top, since I had plenty left over. The main color is "lilac" and there is a brief border in the much darker "plum."

It's the perfect portable project to bring with me on the plane as I fly back to Pennsylvania for the holidays, and with luck, I'll be able to work on it quite a bit while I'm there, and present her with it sometime in early or mid January.

Muppet Scarf Debut

So, the Muppet Scarf is finally done. And by done, I mean, I finally got to the end of the second skein of dark orange Sirdar Snowflake, bound off, weaved in, and called it a day. Well, I called it a scarf, anyway:

The odd thing is, as it grew in length - to a whopping 136 inches - it also sort of grew on me. This yarn that I thought was so tacky and horrible when I first laid eyes on it, slowly began to put thoughts in my head like, "My, wouldn't this look nice against denim?" and "Well, orange *is* very autumny after all..."

So, having finished it last night, I wore it to work today, and actually got lots of compliments on it! The kids were especially impressed by how surprisingly lightweight it is. My own lovely assistant John took this picture out by our field.

Speed Crochet

So, my birthday was this Saturday. (Pause for cheering.)

Among the various things the boy and I did that day was to visit The Naked Sheep, one of my favorite places in North Portland, which is now, sadly, quite a long way away from where I live. But we had to be in that part of the city for other reasons that morning, and so, knowing that I would get a birthday discount, we headed over. He decided that whatever I wanted to purchase there that day (within reason, of course) would be my birthday present. Isn't he sweet?

I walked away with the Harmony Guide for Cables & Arans (which I've wanted for ages, along with the Lace & Eyelets Guide) and a single skein of blue-and-copper self striping Wisdom Yarns Limerick. I would have gotten more - it's a nice, soft dk merino - but this lonely skein was all there was left in the sale basket, and I just knew I could do something small and lovely with it.

After riffling through and discarding several ideas, most of which got discarded because they contained interesting and beautiful cables which would have been totally lost in the striping, I finally settled on the Clapochet by Crochet Kitten. This crocheted version of the very popular Clapotis Scarf is, like its knitted counterpart, designed to be shawl width, and therefore normally requires something in the neighborhood of 800 yards of fiber. Having only 175 to work with, I narrowed it down a great deal, and only made it about 60" long.

I chose the crochet version over the knitted one, not because I haven't learned how to do drop stitches (how hard can it be to learn?), but for the much more important reason that the crocheted version stripes with the grain of the diagonal, rather than across it, and I much prefer this look. Cross-grain striping, in my humble opinion, distracts the eye and obscures the stitchwork.

The most amazing thing about this project, though, is that - and anyone who has done one-skein projects will understand - I did the entire project in one afternoon, the very afternoon after I bought the yarn, which means this project wins the prize for fastest progression from yarn purchase to project blocking I've ever accomplished. And the weather is just perfect to wear it to work today!

Hiatus

So, immediately after my last post, significant time was spent gearing up for PAX. Which rocked, as per expectations. We made lots of new friends, a handful of which even live very close to our new home in Hillsboro.

The night after we returned from PAX, all hell broke loose on the home-buying front. Long story short, we wound up staying temporarily in Gresham, and commuting from there to work (almost an hour each way) until the delayed close date and subsequently even more delayed move date on our new house.

During this entire time, I never found time or peace to knit anything at all except a few rows on the Muppet Scarf. Even now, there is still unpacking to be done, walls to touch up, furniture to be arranged, and a birthday to prepare for - yes, friends, this yarnie is turning 27 two weeks from tomorrow.

To make matters even more exciting (and crazy busy), the boy and I have been engagement ring shopping! *squee*

I was so excited to start my very own yarn-and-hardware blog, and so disappointed with myself recently for not having any reasons to update it. So, even though the most I've done in the past six weeks is get nearly to the end of the first ball of dark orange Sirdar Snowflake, I wanted to share.

To end this post, I'd like to publicly vow to pick up the hooks and needles again in earnest the very moment the last empty box is collapsed and recycled, the last spackle patch is painted over, and the last piece of furniture is in place and put to use.

THERE WILL BE YARN.

Celtic Cable Neckwarmer - Finished

I got the most beautiful buttons today at Twisted to complete the neckwarmer. It was such a quick project, only a week total and that's not even working on it every day. And, as it turned out, I had plenty of yarn to finish it, plus a small handful left over. I did stop at 18" instead of 20" before the buttonhole band, and it fits me perfectly that way. I don't have much else to say about it, except that I LOVE it, and here's a pic of it sporting its fabulous finishing touches!

Celtic Knot Cables

WOW. Malabrigo Worsted, despite its snuggly roving-like texture, produces some eye-popping cable definition. I started working on the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks a couple days ago, and the results so far are stunning. Not to mention soft as a baby lamb.

Her pattern calls to work 20" of cable work before starting the buttonhole band. I'm a little anxious I might run out of yarn, since I'm using leftovers to begin with. But hey, I have some of the same yarn in a different color, which I could always switch to for the buttonhole band if needed. It'd be a neat contrast.

Muppet Scarf

A few months ago, in a raffle at my monthly CGOA guild meeting, I won some of the most truly hideous yarn I have ever had uglying up my stash. Now, I was not attempting to win this yarn. Unfortunately, it was attached to a crochet pattern book that I *did* in fact want to win, badly enough that I had put all my raffle tickets in for just that one prize. And I did win that book. Hooray!

But I also won two skeins of dark orange Sirdar Snowflake and a whole mess of skeins of popsicle blue and pale pink fun fur.

The fun fur I will probably, eventually, either unload on the gracious people at Goodwill, or on someone who actually thinks fun fur is, well, fun.

As for the Snowflake, I haven't been able to escape the notion that this yarn looks like the wool of some unlucky orange muppet, and that someone, somewhere, will thoroughly enjoy wearing a long furry scarf that looks like it was vomited up by Sesame Street. So, to that end, I pulled out my biggest circular tips - let's do this as quickly as possible, shall we? - and got to work. Plain ol' garter stitch, 20 stitches across, on the size 11's, seems to be producing a nice, fluffy, airy... dark orange muppet pelt.