A Circle of Yarn

Nothing Smokey loves more than napping on fresh knitting

2007-08-30T10:20:00.001-07:00

Nothing Smokey loves more than napping on fresh knitting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

The purple and green underneath her are pre-felted clogs made from Cascade 220 and the aqua (turquoise?) is the Wisp scarf form the summer Knitty made from Douceur et Soie by K1C2. I'm knitting a second one of those scarves because it's great bus knitting.

Second try at the Modified Lotus Blossom Tank

2007-08-29T09:54:00.001-07:00

This is from last summer's Interweave Knits. I saw the changes that Sophie made

lotus-number-2a
Originally uploaded by Loretta

on hers and read the knit-a-long that she joined. The biggest problems that I saw cropping up for people were bra coverage and front rolling. I know that the straigh across neckline isn't the best for me so I set about making modifications.

At Sophie's suggestion, I used the Shapely Tank pattern for the idea for bust short rows. But that pattern still calls for a round neck instead of a V. I knit the first one using the second size from the original pattern for the bottom and my measurement size from the shapely tank for the top, but substituting a v-neck for a round neck. When I got done, there were some things I didn't like about the way it hung, it was too big around, and the v-neck was too high.

So I started over, ripping the first one as I knit the second. I knit the bottom of the tank from the original pattern, smallest size. Then for the top I used the smallest size of the shapely tank pattern for the back and a bigger size for the front. I did six repeats of short row (I had only done four on the first edition) and they fall right under the armhole in the front. Then as soon as I finished the short rows I started the v-neck. I did garter stitch around the neck and armholes, making one set of short rows across the back of each arm hole for better side to side bra coverage.

I'm much happier with the result. It hangs straight and doesn't have excess fabric. It covers what it's supposed to cover, but it's nice and cool. The lace pattern on the bottom gives good ventilation for those hot days. For yarn I used Reynolds Saucy Sport, so it's machine washable, and size 7 needles.

Yarn inspector

2007-08-28T11:40:00.001-07:00

Yarn inspector
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Smokey has to check the yarn for quality and fiber content. She's obviously a real knitter's cat.

Feather & Fan

2007-08-28T11:27:00.001-07:00

Feather & Fan
Originally uploaded by Loretta

So what do you do with one skein of Knit Picks Pallette, some knitting needles, and a little time on your hands? Just as an experiment I started out knitting feather & fan increasing and doubling the repeats as soon as there were enough stitches. I think it came out pretty and is now sitting on the back of one of my chairs.

It's about 22" across, but If I'd had more yarn I could have made a full sized circular shawl. I'll file that away in the ideas for later pile.

Felted clogs, pre-felting

2007-08-27T09:51:00.001-07:00

Felted clogs, pre-felting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

It's such a neat little pattern and these guys knit up so fast on size 13 neeldes with two strands of yarn. Very ingenious pattern. You can knit a single sole for use with the leather bottoms. But there's something I love about a self-contained knitted item.

Bottom of felted clogs

2007-08-27T09:48:00.003-07:00

Bottom of felted clogs
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Here's the bottom of the double sole. Cute huh?

Felted clogs, post felting

2007-08-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

Felted clogs, post felting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Well these couldn't have come out any better. I used Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. They knit up really fast on size 13 needles with a double stand of Lamb's Pride. Beverly Galeskas is a woman after my own heart the way she writes patterns. Everything ties up neatly into the finished clog. The double soles give you a neat place to hide ends without too much trouble.

I met Beverly Galeskas at my much missed old LYS that closed in 1998 when the owner retired. No other shop in town has replaced it either in merchandise or vibe. Then I met her again at a Stitches West in 1994 I think it was. Anyway, she's nice. It turns out that one of my classmates this year in the PTA program is her step-daughter. How's that for a nice degrees of separation thingie.

I made these for a Christmas present and now everyone (including me) wants some. So I started "Felted Clogs for Christmas Part II" this June, but this time in Cascade 220, which also came out nice. Pictures later...

Felted Mittens, post-felting

2007-08-26T15:46:00.001-07:00

Felted Mittens, post-felting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

These were Christmas presents for last Christmas (2006). I think they came out nice. I used Fiber Trends Snow Country Mitten pattern. The purple ones are double stranded Cascade 220 and the orange ones are double stranded Lamb's Pride Worsted.

I'm planning on posting a finished knitting project a day until I'm up to date on what I've knit this year.

Ready for Summer Quarter

2007-08-26T15:43:00.001-07:00

Ready for Summer Quarter
Originally uploaded by Loretta

OK just to prove that I'm not a complete slob 100% of the time. I did clean my desk in the week between spring and summer quarters. and Here's how it looked for about a week and a half. Nice right! But don't look in the closet, OK? Every once in a while my husband freaks out on the mess and makes me sort through stuff. I'm always glad I did, but it's not necessarily a smooth process.

I actually started back to knitting again that week too. It's never too early to start maknig Christmas presents.

The aftermath of the school year

2007-08-26T15:41:00.001-07:00

The aftermath of spring quarter
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Scary huh! but I made it through all of my classroom work, with a 4.0, I might add. I got an A- in Pediatrics, but it was only a 1 credit class so it didn't carry much weight and my cumulative GPA was back up by the end of summer quarter. OK so nobody cares about that.

But I am knitting again. Yay! My first full time clinical assignment starts next Friday, but I'm going to be riding the bus in Seattle, so I will have lots of time to knit on the bus. I cleaned up and inventoried a tiny part of my yarn. Too scary to dig into the big stuff in the closet until I run out of what is already out of the closet.

Here's why I haven't been knitting much this month

2006-10-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here's my study space
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I'm once again a full time student, spending much time with the books at this desk and in the PT lab. I'm loving the Physical Therapy curriculum.

I have most of my knitted christmas presents done, so the only thing I'll probably knit between now and December are some baby booties for a friend whose baby is due in December. Of course, you know I'm lying, It's hard to stay away from knitting for that long.

Sea turtles shawl

2006-09-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

sea turtles blocked
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

It's the swallow tail shawl from the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits, but I think it looks like sea turtles returning to the sea, so that's what I'm calling it. The bud pattern is the turtles and the border is the sea. The yarn is laceweight alpaca that I bought in Denver in 2000. Sometimes the yarn just has to wait for the right project to come along. I also have a cone of it in purple. Mmmm...

I like this pattern a lot so I'm comtemplating adapting it to a faorese style shawl. I'll be able to use the existing turtle part of the chart for the side panels, but I'll have to adapt it for the center panel and then figure out how I will get the border pattern to fit. Sounds like a fun fall challenge! Or perhaps something I should tackle during Christmas break. School is taking up most of my time and attnetion right now.

Wearing Half a sweater

2006-09-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

Wearing Half a sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Here's the left half on. This is going to be a very warm sweater.

Half sweater

2006-09-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

Half sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

The left half of the Round the Bend is done. The color is a bit washed out in this picture.

Top half of one side of the Round the bend

2006-09-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

Top half of one side of the Round the bend
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Rounding the first bend of the left half. I already like the way it looks.

Two sleeves

2006-09-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

Two sleeves
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I started Meg Swansen's Round The Bend sweater in the thick brick red yarn my mom brought me from Ireland. I knit both the sleeves together because that's the most boring part of this pattern

Lace shoulder wrap

2006-08-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Lace shoulder wrap
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

This pattern was from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. It called for laceweight Misti Alpaca, but I didn't have any, so I used leftover yarn (Knit Picks Merino Style) from the Sunburst sweater. It's worsted weight instead of lace weight and I used size 9 needles instead of size 3 or 4 called for int he pattern. I also ran out of yarn before I completed the bottom patterning, but oh well! I think it came out great. The pattern looks a bit like swimming sea turtles to me. It was an easy pattern to memorize so it was great for knitting on the bus. I'm sure I'll make more of them.

Alpaca silk scarf

2006-08-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Alpaca silk scarf
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

My hands needed a break from the fair isle, because I stupidly pushed past my limits on Saturday night in a fever to get the sleeve started. You'd think I'd know better. I probably should have taken a whole day off, or maybe two. But my friends Renee & Sophie were visiting and that visit included a trip to the yarn store and knitting while watching videos. Sigh, I had to knit something. I had two skeins for Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk that I had picked up from the clearance shelf of one of my less frequented yarn shops. What to do with 2 small skeins of yarn?

I cast on about 300 (give or take) stitches to size 9 needles, then I knit back and forth in garter stitch until I was about out of yarn, then bound off and used the reat of the yarn for fringe.

The resulting scarf seen here is about 6 feet 5 inches long exclusive of the fringe and is very soft. It wraps nicely around my neck a few times, or I can wear it folded in half with the ends passed through the loop. I'm ready for winter (all but the dark nights, *shiver*)

Crocheted sleeve steek

2006-08-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Crocheted sleeve steek
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

After knitting the sweater body to the top of the shoulders I did a three needle bind off to join the tops of the shoulders. Then I crocheted up and down one of the sleeve steeks and cut the sitiches between the rows of crochet.

Here is a picture of the cut steek

Then I picked up stitches around the cut steek for the sleeve. It will be knit down from the shoulder to the wrist, repeating the color patterns from the body (except upside down).

After: A Steek is Born

2006-07-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Lynda's finished zip cardigan
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

After cutting the steek, basting and sewing in the zipper. Viola! Lynda's finished zip front cardigan. Now she has a sweater she will wear instead of something relegated to the bottom of a drawer or the back of a closet.

Before: A steek is born

2006-07-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Lynda's first steek before cutting
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

First, we painstakingly counted all the stiches in the front of the sweater. This was made difficult by the fact that it is knit in a very tiny gauge and the chaotic atmosphere in my sisters house. With all of us there talking and laughing and stirring up the dogs, it was pretty difficult to keep on count.

Second, we sewed a basting line down the center front stitch of the sweater. I started it to show her how, then Lynda finished the basting.

Since Lynda is the experienced seamstress, she did the machine sewing. She machine stitched up one side of the center stitch and down the other side.

Contrary to popular fears, cutting steeks will not give you heart failure

2006-07-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Making the first cuts on the steek
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I was visitng my family and my sister had a beautiful sweater that someone had brought her from Scotland. Problem: the sweater was a turtleneck. She does not wear turtlenecks. We examined the sweater with the possibility of making it into a v-neck in mind, but then decided that it would make a lovely zip front cardigan.

So I took time off from the Fair Isle

2006-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Knitted sweatshirt
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I was doing a bit of traveling and didn't want to carry a million colors of yarn with me on the plane. This was a good project for the trip. It has a hood now. More pictures to come.

It's a Knitted sweatshirt with front pocket. I made it out of Cascade Sierra (50% cotton/50% wool). Based on the Wonderful Wallaby, but with several of my own modifications. I hadn't finished the hood in this picture. It's done now though and very comfortable. As soon as it gets cool again this sweater will get a lot of wear.

.

Knit Picks Palette Fair Isle Sampler Cardigan and it's chart

2006-05-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Knit Picks Palette fair isle sampler cardigan and chart
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Having finished the Sunburst Sweater, I played around with it a bit before I started in on this one. It's going pretty fast (about one stripe pattern per day). I started it last Saturday and have mostly been knitting it on the bus on the way to school and outside on the lawn at school between classes. I suppose I should have been in the library studying, but the weather was so nice it just didn't scream "Come inside and do statistics problems!"

This is done in the traditional fair isle fashion with a steek for the front which will eventually be cut to make it a cardigan. As soon as I get to armpit depth, I'll be inserting steeks for the armholes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to crochet the steeks. I experimented with different steek styles when I was teaching a cardigan class in the Spring of 2004. The crochet steeks were nice and neat and easy to do without hauling out the sewing machine. I do already have the machine out as I was making sand bags for my yoga teacher's studio. But that's another project.

I do like the yarn a lot and the sampler pack is quite nice with all the colors they have. The price can't be beat either. I will definitely make some more things form this yarn.

I'll take pictures of the crocheted steeks when i get to them.

Sunburst sweater Finished

2006-05-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sunburst sweater front
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Then I figured out that it's darn hard to get a picture of this one. Much of the interesting stuff is on the back. I had my husband take several pictures of me wearing it, but I just couldn't get what I wanted. I finally took a picture of the back of the sweater with him wearing it (proving what a good sport he is). It's still not exactly what I wanted but oh well. I'm hoping to get a some good pictures of my mom in it when I give it to her. It's a mother's day present, but I'm going out to visit at the end of June, so I though I'd wait and give it in person.

I thought I wasn't going to like the drop stitch bottoms of the sleeves, but it turns out that I do. It makes the sleeves bell out and lightens them up quite a bit. I still haven't knit the i-cord ties, but I was thinking about a button/loop for the inside and then the ties for the outside.

Sunburst Sweater done in time for Mother's Day

2006-05-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

Sunburst sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

The knitting went really fast. It was a little hard to figure out how to block and I'm still tweaking around with it. Although I'm not a big fan of drop stitch patterns, The dropped stitches at the bottoms of the sleeves (picture forthcoming), add a nice lightness. I hope my mom will like it.

A sweater is born

2006-04-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

What the heck is it?
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

But when you look at it now you think, "What the heck is that thing? Long johns? and octopus cozy?" It's really Knit Picks Starburst Sweater knit in their Merino Style yarn. I started it last Saturday. I didn't have much time to knit last quarter because of my weird schedule. But the new quarter started this week and I can ride the bus to school instead of driving. That gives me lots more time to knit.

I've also bought the Palette Sampler Pack from Knit Picks and I'm going to start the sampler pack fair isle sweater soon. I was thinking about alternating weeks with these two sweaters, but I think I'll finish the right front on the Starburst before I start the fair isle.

This is my first experience with Knit Picks yarn and patterns and I'm very pleased so far. I really love that they have come out with a line of affordable and beautiful yarns. As I've been knitting on the Starburst, I've been thinking of all the other great things I can knit with the Merino Style. The patterns, so far, are well written. The thing I really like about the fair isle pattern is that the charts are printed in color. I much prefer classic yarns to all the new novelty yarns and Knit Picks has a lovely and reasonably priced selection.

Knitted Moebiuses (Moebii?)

2006-01-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

More Moebii
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I got Cat Bordhi's Magical Knitting books this summer and started knitting moebius projects. If you've ever played with paper moebius strips as a kid, you'll know that a moebius is an interesting conpect. Topologically it is one surface with one edge. When you knit I-cord onto the edge of a moebius you will see this demonstrated.

In A Treasury of Magical Knitting and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, Cat Bordhi teaches her ingenius method for making a moebius on one long needle. The first book contain mostly garments, like the lotus moebius hats I've made here as well as scarves, shawls and socks. The second book features more containers like baskets, purses and cat beds.

There is something absolutely fascinating about this knitting technique, so if you want an engaging project (or projects, you can't knit just one) start a moebius.

Post-Christmas Knitting and Cleaning

2005-12-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

I realize that I haven't posted anything since December 12. I've spent my knitting time since then finishing up 4 pairs of the Urban Rustic Gloves from the Winter '05 issue of Knitty for last minute gifts. After the first pair, I decided that instead of the vent I wanted solid wrist coverage and I added to the wrist length by three stitches. I neglected to take any pictures of the ones I made for my mom. D'oh! Maybe I can get her to take a pic and send it to me.

I took some days off of knitting to rest my wrists, but the time was well spent cleaning out my big closet. You wouldn't believe how much yarn I found buried in there. I also found quite a lot of spinning fibers and (gasp!) some moth damaged items. Here's why knitters and moths are natural enemies. Yikes! I have decided that these mittens deserve a rebirth so I will be re-making them from some lovely brown and cream alpaca that I bought at a yarn shop in Las Vegas a couple of years ago. Take that, moths!

I found lots of lovely spinning fibers in the closet too, so I was compelled to dust off my Ashford Traditional and spin a bit. I forgot how engaging it is. I invested in some organizing drawers and space bags, the combination of which now nicely contains my yarn and fiber stash. I'm ready to get snowed in. Food? who needs it, I have yarn!

Space bag full of fiber

Different forms of silk. Some cocoons, some fibers ready to spin, some of my handspun silk yarn. What can I make from that?

Wool and alpaca fibers, including a skein that I spun several years ago from some really great New Zealand wool. Oooooh! It's going to be a good new year!

In the closet, I found some Dale of Norway Tiur, sport weight mohair and wool in dark purple. I'm trying to duplicate Sophie's "Prithee, which way to the monastery" Moebius with it. I'm knitting it on Size 10 needles, but because of the mystery of the magic moebius technique I won't know the finished size until it's off the needles. I'm hoping for the shoulder hugging size like Sophie's version. Stay tuned for pictures! My dear family was good to me for Christmas (as usual) and I got many gift certificates for yarn and whatnot. I don't know what is more fun, shopping or the anticipation of shopping.

Another Weekend Off From Knitting

2005-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Knitting hand
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

After finishing the Urban Rustic Gloves I was trying to decide what to knit next. I have a Wonderful Wallaby started in purple Cascade Sierra. The body is done up to the armpits and I'm comtemplating doing a cable pattern at the bottoms of the sleeves. I can't seem to decide on a cable pattern, so I've set it aside for now until I find something that strikes my fancy.

I always feel lost when I don't have a work schedule or a school schedule. The school break is only 3 weeks, but some days it feels like forever. This weekend, I spent several hours reading about drawing, getting supplies, and doing pencil drawings. I'm particularly having fun with drawing my hands. I remember a really intricate hand drawing that someone did in a drawing class I was in about 25 years ago. It made enough of an impression on me that it has stuck in my mind to this day. One thing that was really interesting was that she showed both of her hands in the drawing and her hands were sewing with a needle and thread on a cabbage. As I remember, the assignment was a to draw vegetable out of context. I haven't tried drawing my right hand yet. After drawing the left hand mudra, I thought of my left-handed friend, LisaTV, who got taken to task in a yoga workshop for wanting to use her left hand in a traditional mudra.

Insomnia Sucks

2005-12-08T06:23:00.000-08:00

Even if I can't sleep, I'll usually just lie in bed "resting" until such a time as I either a) eventually fall asleep or b) estimate that it is officially morning and I can go ahead and get up. Option b happened for me this morning at 5AM. Of course I have to put on my glasses and stumble out to the living room to figure that out without turning on the light in the bedroom, which will wake the other members of my tribe. But this time of year it's frickin' dark at 5AM or even 6:30AM. Whoever decided that it was a good idea to make people go into work at 7AM or some such should be hunted down and bitch slapped. Luckily I don't have to go into work at 7AM, unlike some of my unlucky fellow human beings. I know they are out there brushing their teeth (hopefully) right now. Sometimes in the summer I can't sleep when it gets light too early. So whatinthehell is my problem now? TOO DARK?? It's always something.

For the last hour and a half I was attempting to amuse myself by reading people's knitting blogs, something for which I don't usually have very much time. I saw one person's comment about the madness of trying to finish knitted Christmas presents in December and how people don't appreciate how you knit your fingers to the bone for them. However, I learned a long time ago, that it's a waste of my time and effort to knit for people who don't appreciate the work that goes into knitting. A corollary of this universal law, is that it's a waste of time to knit for people who will not wear or care for your knitted pieces, or even those who might (gasp!) banish them to a thrift store. This is why my two fabulous sisters are the lucky recipients of most of my hard work. They appreciate the art and the work. They cherish and care for even the most delicate of knitted pieces. And they WEAR them. Well, it's also lucky that they happen to live in Colorado where it's freezing in the winter. So I can knit them the warmest of sweaters (and socks, hats, mittens, scarves, blankets, etc, etc.)

Urban Rustic Gloves

2005-12-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

Urban Rustic Gloves in work
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

There's lots of cute stuff in the new winter '05 issue of knitty.com, but the Urban Rustic Gloves caught my fancy.

I was looking for a quick diversion for my Tuesday night sit & knit group. These are quick, fun and can even be knit with some distractions. It looks like the one ball of Crystal Palace Yarns Iceland will make a pair. I love projects with unusual construction and these definitely fill that bill. They could even be a last minute Christmas gift.

Weekend "off" from knitting

2005-12-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Finished lip balm and lotion bars in mold
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

For some reason I found myself wanting to make lip balm. My friend who owns brambleberry.com , a lovely soapmaking supply company, has told me that lip balm is about the easiest thing to make (and incidentally, has a huge price markup.)

So with a little inspiration and a recipe from notmartha.org, I went down to Brambleberry's retail shop, Otion. I ended up making a few colors of lip balm and lotion bars for stocking stuffers.

So if you have a half hour or so and want to whip up some fun gifts, lip balm fills the bill. You can make girly colored and/or flavored balms. Or you can stick to a basic recipe that even men will love. Hey! guys get chapped lips too.

The lotion bars have slightly different proportions of the same basic ingredients as the balm. And are made by pouring the melted lotion balm into molds. I also picked up some pretty little organza bags at Otion and card stickers at JoAnn's for a nice gift presentation.

Besides knitting, I'm not one of those artsy-crafty people. I generally don't like stuff that makes a mess (or has mess making potential.) But this little set of projects had very little mess involved and it took only a relatively small space on my kitchen counter and simple tools to assemble and process all the ingredients.

Winter is here

2005-12-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

We have snow on the ground, a rare occurence for Bellingham . I know that the grass is still peeking through in this picture and that people who live in snowier parts of the world are not impressed. But it's a little deeper today and any day when I get to wear my Sorels is a good day. The kids across the street somehow managed to get enough snow together to build a massive snow woman, complete with strapless evening gown. But she didn't survive the night and is now a massive blue cone.

The multicolor moebius is now off the needles and I've started a pair of silk/wool blend socks. I'm long since bored with plain, rectangular scarves, but I'm finding these moebiuses (moebii ?) endlessly fascinating. There are so many posssibilities for color, style, size and form. Cat Bordhi is correct in her two moebius books A Treasury of Magical Knitting and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, this is magic. I have done a couple moebius scarves in Elizabeth Zimmerman's style, where you basically knit a long rectangle, then join the ends with a twist, creating the moebius. But Cat Bordhi's cast on to a long needle with the twist built in adds magic to the knitting. I'd like to think that Elizabeth would have loved it, had she lived to see it. I'll try to get some pictures up this weekend of some of the various moebius projects I've done this year.

Well, with me in my moebius and pa in his cap, the kitties are tucked in for a long winter's nap. Not that they confine their napping to winter! Smokey is doing her monitor top impressionist/Mona Lisa impression and we're about to head out for winter provisions (AKA cat food and yarn). The school quarter is all but wrapped up and I'm trying to talk "pa" into a downtown gallery walk tonight sponsored by the Whatcom Museum.

Despite the darkness and the cold and the short days. I really love winter. It's the height of the knitting season. It's easy to find plenty of days to curl up on the couch with yarn and needles. Cats, yarn, books...Life is good!

2005-11-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it's snowing outside, not as those of you who live in colder climates actually experience snow. But the snowflakes are swirling around in the air and making the road wet. I'm hoping that since it started early it'll be cold enough tonight to actually have some accumulation overnight. It's fun to have a few days to actually put the Quattro all-wheel-drive through its paces. The scary thing is that so many people here don't know how to drive in the snow because they never have had to. I'll probably ride the bus to school tomorrow so I can finish the multicolor moebius.

On the needles this Monday

2005-11-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

Moebius in work
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

It's cold outside. There was frost on the ground this morning which is a rare occurence here. So I trundled off to the bus stop wearing the new yorrick scarf, the new lotus moebius hat, mittens, and a sweater under my coat. I felt like Ralphie's little brother on A Christmas Story. But it was a good opportunity to bundle up in my handknits and you never do know how long you'll be at the bus stop or what the angle of the sun will be there.

For knitting on the bus I'm working this moebius scarf out of some hand spun yarn I bought at the local weaver's guild show a few years ago. I'll probably have enough of this for another scarf. Maybe I'll add in something fuzzy for the second one.

Felted yorrick

2005-11-27T21:57:00.000-08:00

Felted yorrick
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

It's finished and the Lush did felt really well, all the while keeping it's angora fuzziness. It's going to be fun wearing it when it's dry.

Finished Yorrick

2005-11-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

Finished Yorrick
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

It's Sunday and the knitting on the yorrick and my lab reports and pathology presentation are all done. Not a bad weekend considering that all I did on Saturday was go to yoga class and then sit on the couch watching movies and the history channel on TV.

The scarf is in the washer right now felting. I checked it after 10 minutes to cut out the eye & nose strings and it's looking really great. I guess that sometimes it does pay to use the yarn called for in the pattern. Classis Elite Lush really felts great. I think it's going to be soft and warm, which is great as we are getting our obligatory week of cold winter weather. I know that people living in really cold places would be thrilled with just one week of cold weather but what can I say we're spoiled in Western Washington.

Half a yorrick

2005-11-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

half-a-yorrick
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Friday night's knitting. Now all I need to do is knit the other half. Really I love knitting with this soft yarn so much I keep thinking of other things to make out of it as I knit.

Last night's knitting

2005-11-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

Another pair of Yorricks
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I wound the moss green Lush and started the third Yorrick. I knit the two skulls at the same tim with two balls of yarn. Then I moved one to a holder and I'm knitting the plain stockinette section on the first one.

It is kind of a strange pattern because you leave strands and dropped stitches in the eye and nose holes that don't get cut out until after the felting. I promised myself that I'm not going to work on this until after I've written my two labs reports which are due on Monday. So I'd better GET TO WORK!

I guess I'll wind up the rest of that yarn

2005-11-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

Umbrella swift in action
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

The moss green Classic Elite Lush that I'll use for the next Yorrick scarf. The kitties are afraid of the yarn swift and looking at this picture, who can blame them. This picture was also taken in the summer, a fact made obvious form the light streaming into the windows. Light just doesn't stream like this in late November.

Lotus flower moebius hat

2005-11-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

Lotus flower moebius hat
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I guess I did make something else this week. But I'm cheating on the pictures since I made and photographed the same hat in June. The light is never this bright in November. That's the dead giveaway.

Anyway the hat is made from the pattern in Cat Bordhi's A Treasury of Magical Knitting in Classic Elite Lush (which I don't know if they make anymore, but it's an angora/wool blend). I got several skeins of this on clearance in purple at the Fiber Factory in Mesa,AZ while I was there last November for the Manuso Manos workshop.

The pattern knits up really quickly with medium weight yarn on size 9 needles, but be aware that there is an error in the pattern in the book. The p3tog parts of round 6 and 8 are transposed. But if you are paying attention to how the pattern progresses you will spot the error (and the fix for it) right away. This is good because you have to repeat those round three times in the crown of the hat.

For me it's pretty much a one day hat. I did the moebius cast-on in the morning and finished the moebius hat band on the bus on the way to school. Then I started in on the crown pattern before my afternoon class and worked on it on the bus on the way home. Here is my chance to plug my favorite needle set, the Denise Interchangeables. With the Denise set, the switch from moebius knitting on the band to circular knitting on the crown is so much easier. And you don't have to carry around an extra needle. You can also do the smaller part of the top on two circular needles with one Denise set if you use two cords and make sure that the larger (size 9 needles) are on the right-hand needle side of the circ and you can use any of the smaller needles for the left-hand side of each circ. It works to knit with two different size needles because the right-hand needle determines the size of the stitches (if you don't believe me, try it yourself.) Not that I don't have two sets of Denise needles; my old reliable ones from the 80s and the new set that I bought when the new ones came out. With two sets, there's nothing I can't knit on size 5 or above.

I went to sit & knit Tuesday evening at my LYS for the first time in about 6 weeks and finished the hat there, despite much chatting and looking at other people's projects. It only takes one skein of Lush and I have one more left, so I'll probably make another one soon.

Almost finished sweater

2005-11-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

Almost finished sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

This is my next to last finished project. Gee if I did this in reverse chronological order I'd almost have a knitting log. Aside from the difficulty of located all of my knitted pieces, and the time involved, it's a great idea.

Anyway, this sweater is made from Reynold's Lopi from the Lopi Toggle Cardigan pattern. I started it this spring and then somehow between the bottom color chart on the sleeves and finishing the unpatterned body, I lost the pattern. I even lost the copies I made of it to enlarge the tiny little writing and the tiny little chart. I spent many hours looking for the pattern. I even looked in all of my knitting books because I have a habit of tucking single sheets inside of books. No luck.

So I finally decided to just buy another copy of the pattern so I could finish the darn thing. It was worth it, because the sweater is fabulous.

I did change my mind about the closure and will sew in a zipper instead of the toggle buttons called for in the pattern. I haven't been to my local sit & knit for a while, but I'm glad I went this week because I got some great zipper sewing in tips from Frank, a fisherman & knitter, who knits the traditional Salish Coast/Cowichan sweaters. I might even put in some side seam pockets. Which leads me to a question. Is a sweater ever really done?

Cats and yarn

2005-11-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

Smokey snuggling yarn
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

As much as I love knitting, my cat, Smokey, loves yarn.

Alas, poor...

2005-11-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Alas, poor...
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

This felted skull scarf is Yorrick from Knitty.com. I knit it from Babajoes Woolpak which felts quite nicely. I gave it to my Anatomy & Physiology professor who is now using it not only to keep her neck warm, but to make the other Bio profs jealous. I liked it so much that I made a garter stitch version for myself. The GS version went a lot faster, but I think I like the original better. I may just make another one from Classic Elite Lush, the yarn called for in the original pattern. But mine will be in a pale green 1) because I already have the yarn and 2) because the real human bones that we study in A&P lab look a bit pale greenish to me.

OK I'm just figuring out how this works

2005-11-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

Bear with me

Inspired by Sophie

2005-11-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

Seeing my friend Sophie's knitting blog makes me think I need to do this. I'm not good at keeping a knitting journal, even though I recommend the practice to my knitting students. I've been knitting for around 30 years (some of them continuously).

I started as a kid with a bunch of library books. I don't know where I got the idea that I wanted to knit. My mother's hobby of choice has always been sewing. But I knew only one person who did knit, a school friend's mom. I was way too shy to ask her to teach me to knit. So I turned to my reliable old friend the library. I checked out every book I could find on knitting. It took me a while to figure out a method. I thought that everything started with ribbing, so I learned ribbing first. Talk about doing things the hard way. No one was there to tell me otherwise. I found out years later, and many books later, that the method I taught myself now has a name, "combination knitting". It is described in the self-published Confessions of a Knitting Heretic by Annie Modesitt. I never ran into the "knitting nazis" that Annie describes in her book who would tell me I was knitting "wrong", because, being an introvert, I never exposed myself to such public display.

Throughout junior high, high school and college, I never had much money to spend on yarn. But there were always well meaning adults who would give me their leftovers. And there was always the library for more books about knitting. I probably spent more time reading about knitting than actually knitting, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

After college and all the way on the other side of the continent I discovered three things that changed my knitting life; 1) REAL yarn stores; 2) Maggie Righetti's and Elizabeth Zimmerman's books (you guessed it, at the public library); and 3) Patternworks mail order catalog, at the time called Hard-To-Find Things for Knitters. Maggie took me down the path of continental knitting and really looking at my own work. Elizabeth Zimmerman opened my eyes to many things, not the least of which was the beauty of circular knitting. My Knitter's Rule Jr from Patternworks got me thinking about the correct gauge and actually making things that fit. I still was not to have any contact with other knitters until I moved to Washington state 8 years down the road.