Deb

my new bloggy home: http://debcarr.com/blog/

3 Shawls and a Mitt

Thursday, February 7, 2008 2:49:11 AM

Lots of knitting going on these days, and a little rug hooking too. I even picked up my spindle, but it's too heavy for the yarn I want to spin. I need to get a lightweight one to spin those laceweight yarns on.

The knitalong shawls are coming along slowly. I've been working a little at each of them. It's actually quite nice to be able to switch between them. It keeps my interest up, and I look forward to working with each different yarn and needle.

The Spring Surprise Shawl is the farthest behind. It's the most complex of the three, and I had to frog back to the beginning of the second clue. I need to really concentrate when I work on this one and I'm going to have to put in a lot of lifelines, I think. Once I get a little more comfortable with it I expect I'll really enjoy it. The plain purls rows on the simpler shawls are a bit boring.

The Secret of the Stole is turning out fairly easy and quick to knit. I love the Alpaca Cloud. It slides through my fingers like water. I'm part way through the second clue but there's some sort of funky boo-boo happening right there at the centre. Won't take long to fix but I was tired and knew I had to just set it down at that point. So I'm only half a clue behind on that one and might be able to catch up this week.

I love the yarn I'm using for the Fisherman's Wife (Dem Fischer Sin Fru) shawl. It's very pink and though it seems a little coarse as I'm working it, it's really quite soft when it's knit up. I was going to use a 2.25mm needle for this to keep the fabric dense but I knew part way through the first section it would be too small. I broke the yarn and started over with a 3.25mm KnitPick's Harmony circular needle. These needles are interesting an different from what I've used before. The surface is smoother than my other wood needles but not as slick as polished metal. The points are quite fine but blunt at the very end. All in all, I like working with them and I think I'll be ordering more.

I needed to get away from the lace and fine yarns for a bit so I started a pair of fingereless mitts. I'd bought this Elann Highland Peruvian Silk for a pair of Mrs. Beetons but it's a very heavy dk weight. I really like the medallion in the Cozy Cable socks so I put one medallion cable flanked by 2 four-stitch cables on the back of the mitt. It took me a couple of tries to get the thumb gusset in a good spot and I finally decided to put it in a purl section of the 2/2 rib, a couple of stitches from the side towards the palm. It keeps the medallion centred nicely on the back of the hand.

I really love lace knitting and I thinks it's actually making all my knitting better. Working with the fine yarn makes it easy to refine my technique and it shows in the rest of my work. It was a little awkward going back to the heavier yarn for a bit but now I'm getting the hang of switching from one to the other. Which is good because I need to finish up my January Sockamania socks...

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Hats Away!

Monday, January 21, 2008 5:30:47 PM

yarn, gift, knitting, hat

I love hats. Nice and quick, with so many options. Great for experiments in color, texture and shaping. Perfect use for a small amount of yarn. And you can never have too many. But if you did have too many you could simply give them away, especially in our climate where everybody needs at least one warm hat. They make great gifts. Like these:

Hab's Hat
pattern: improvised basic 2/2 rib toque
yarn: KnitPicks Swish DK
needles: 3.75mm Bryspun 16" circular, 3.75mm dpns

Last year I decided my uncle should have a nice warm smooshy hat. He walks in the evenings and is out and about a lot. When I asked for his colour preference he first said black, but then "it should probably have red in it, and blue...". I knew we were headed straight for his favorite hockey team, the Montreal Candiens. After a little web-surfing, I came up with some stripe proprtions I liked. I was going to use Jessica's ribbed hat pattern but it seemed to be coming out too small. So I ripped it out and cast on 100 st (long tail cast on alternating 2 knit, 2 purl) and started working a 2/2 rib. I love 2/2 ribs because they are so stretchy and so compact. I added the Canadiens' stripes after enough length for a fold-up brim. I began the decreases in the purl section with a p2tog in each 20 st section, and used the same decrease every second row 'til I got to 10 st. It's a bit pointy on top, so next time I make a hat like this, I'll make the decreases in every row for the last rows. I might also put the color stripes in the fold-up part. Right now they sit pretty high on the head. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, especially the tail-weaving. It's pretty much reversible, though the top on the right side is knit, so on the inside it's purled. By the way, Harvey the pig has a rather small head so all hats look big on him.

Brother Love
pattern: Thorpe by Jessica K., adjusted for weight of yarn and ribbed edge, no earflaps.
yarn: HighTales Alpaca 3-ply, Coco % Merlin
needles: 5mm Brittanny dpns, KnitPicks 16" circular

I love the yarn, a bulky weight 3-ply from a local alpaca farmer. Coco and Merlin are the paca's the fiber came from. Merlin is young fella with the silkiest black hair imaginable. I decided to buy the blend because of the richness of the black and Coco's brown combined. It's incredibly soft and thick.
The yarn looked like aran weight inthe skein, but when I began working with it, I realized how dense it actually was and it fluffed up quite a bit. I'm expecting it will bloom some more when I wash it, which I have to do before I send it off to it's new home with my big brother.
Working from the top down was great since I wsn't sure how big I wanted the hat to be (my brother and I both got the humungo-noggin gene; I like to think it's due to our exceptionally large and superior brains

) or how far the yarn would go. I could have made a fold up brim, but this is alpaca, and thick alpaca at that. I want it to be warm, but days that require double layers of bulky alpaca only happen one or twice a year around here. I really like the hat and I think my bro will get quite a bit of use out of it.

I've got a couple more hats in the queue including a colourwork beret, if I can ever make up my mind about the colours...

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Yarn Goodies and Yarny Goodness

Saturday, January 19, 2008 3:51:40 PM

knitting, lace, yarn, gift

That lovely yarn cake in the last photo is compliments of my Christmas presents -- a new swift and ball winder.

THe first day I took it out from under the tree, I went digging through my stash and wound up every skein I could get my hands on. I even wound a couple of messy commercial balls to make them easier to use! I really love them and it's a big time saver. I'm hoping to do some dyeing experiments and I'll turn the swift on it's side to use as a skein winder for that.

Here's one of the goodies I've wound up. It's a laceweight single from Handpaintedyarn.com called cactus flower. It's for a faroese style mystery shawl, Dem Fischer sin Fru. I love the rich pinkness of it, and since my other laceknitting projects right now are with very fine yarn, I'm looking forward to something a little heavier.

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Doin' the Amanda

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 7:40:48 PM

yarn, gift, KAL, knitting ...

Do I really need another knit-along? Well, probably not, but this hat is perfect for the wool I got, and hats don't take very long... right?

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Bloomin' Lace

Saturday, January 5, 2008 6:41:23 PM

lace, knitting, yarn

I've ordered quite a few lace yarns lately and I have to say I'm a big fan of Colourmart yarns. The prices are good and the yarns I've tried so far are lovely. I've got some angora/lambswool laceweight and some cashmere/merino laceweight. (When I save up my pennies I'll get some pure cashmere. The sample I sent for is luscious). Since these yarns are from the textile industry they are prepped for machine knitting and weaving. This means that, straight off the cone, they look terribly fine and smooth. Once you wash off the oils and finishing, though, they bloom up wonderfully.

Here's the angora/lambswool blend. The most visible difference in this yarn is with the halo. Off the cone it looks more like cotton than wool.

On top is a recently worked bit (Lul's "Spring Shawl Surprise")The yarn sort of fluffs up a bit from handling it. On the lower left is my swatch for the same shawl, lightly washed and blocked. Both these pieces were worked on 3mm needles. In the middle of the picture are a strand straight off the cone, and the well-washed one below it. It's hard to see the halo in this overexposed picture, but you can see how the plies filled out and look less cotton-y.
In the lower left corner is an unblocked piece that has had the oils washed out and has been treated rather roughly, as if it had been worn several times. Here's a better shot:

You can see the fabulous halo. The fabric is softer, thicker, and light as air. This is exactly the effect I was hoping for with this yarn, which also makes it a good yarn to work right from the cone -- without the angora fluffed up, there's less shedding and less shedding is always a good thing.

The cash/merino is amazing in the difference.

In the upper left corner of the picture is a freshly worked swatch (for the Secret of the Stole II)Below it is the washed piece. Again, I washed it with lots of shampoo and and played with the dry fabric for a while. I used rather large needles for both these samples, 3.25mm for the top swatch and 3.5 or 4mm for the bottom. When I first finished the bottom piece and gave it a good blocking(sorry I don't have a shot of that) it looked way too open and you couldn't really see the print of the wave pattern at all.

The difference in the unwashed and washed yarns is incredible. It looks twice as thick. Mind you, those are relaxed yarns, and blocking takes some of that back. There is still a difference in the blocked yarns, though. The fabric is delightfully soft. By the very nature of both cashmere and merino, the crispness of the lace design is diminished, but that works for me. If I want really well-defined lace I'd probably use silk anyway. Hmmm... more yarn to try...

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Wrap it Up

Friday, January 4, 2008 4:03:20 PM

gift, shawl, knitting, lace

Here's the specs on M's wrap, finally

Fuzzy Wrap
pattern: Tie One On, blue pattern, with mods
yarn: Elann Super Kydd, Ice Blue
needles: 4.25mm for body, 3.25mm for ties.

This was a lovely piece to knit up. I followed the size and shaping from the pattern but changed up the lace stitch patterns, sections of purse fagoting separated by bands of alternating eyelets. The ties took as long to knit as the body since they were done on the smaller needles. I liked the gradual taper included before the switch to smaller needles. I didn't bother to block it because I really liked the look and feel of it, and the intended recipient is a very small woman. It turned out perfect for her (she thought so too

). I had thought the ties looked a little short, but they seemed to be just right.

I may very well use this pattern again. It's a fairly quick knit, and makes a great stay-on-your-shoulders wrap for fancy or everyday. I was thinking of making the pink pattern with sportweight and something fluffy for my teenage cousin. If I were to make one for myself I would make it both longer and wider, and probably put longer ties on it as well, or I could use heavier yarn and bigger needles with the lace-weight pattern.

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Mysteries of Lace

Thursday, January 3, 2008 4:17:34 PM

shawl, yarn, lace, knitting

There are a bunch of new mystery shawl knit-alongs starting in the next couple of months, and I've signed up for 4 of them.

Spring Shawl 'Surprice', a stole which has already begun, is likely the hardest of them as it it has patterning on both sides. Lul says the 2-sided bits are fairly easy, but it may take me a while to get through them. I haven't successfully knit more than a few rows of 2-sided lace. Lots of lifelines for this one, I think. I've decided to go with the Colourmart 2/28 angora/lambswool for this one, and a 3mm needle.

Dem Fischer sin Fru is up next, and it is in a more traditional semi-faroese shape. It needs a fair amount of yarn so should be a good size. I've read the Brother's Grimm story and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Moni has come up with. I've got a couple of choices for yarn; I got some lace weight from handpaintedyarn.com which is a little heavier than the yarn Moni used for the prototype, and I've ordered some Yarn Treehouse Classic lace-weight which will be a lighter weight yarn than Moni's.

The Secret of the Stole II (SOTSii) begins after the middle of the month. I really like DK's designs, so it should be a fun one. This is the one I'm most likely to keep up with and finish on schedule. Lots of yarn choices for this one and DK suggests an “earthy” colour. I've got some Alpaca Cloud in Sunlight Heather which is a pale beige, but I may go for the Colourmart cash/merino, Airforce colour which is a sort of medium dull blue. I'm not describing it well, but it's really a very nice colour. If the stole really wants a more earthy tone I can always dye it later. Note: Dk has set up a website for the knitalong, check it out!

Last up is the Secret of Bad Nauheim, which has the option of a square shawl or stole, in February. It's sort of a sequel to the Secret of Chrysopolis, which I missed but really like. I think I may go for the square shape since that will be new to me. Unless I order something new this will get whichever yarn I didn't use for the Fischer shawl.

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My, what a great holiday season (and I even got some knitting done)!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 2:38:09 PM

lace, rughooking, shawl, penny rugs ...

Before Christmas I lost a bit of knitting time to illness (just a bad cold), so I trimmed my knit gifts list a bit. OK, a lot. But that was a good thing because I really enjoyed the knitting I was doing, and not feeling like I had to get through it fast.

I finished the wrap for my brother's girlfriend. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and Michelle was delighted with it. I also made a little silver ring-and-stick pin to go with it.

My brother missed out on the knit gifts this year, but I have plans to make him an alpaca hat. I made one with HighTales 3-ply (bulky weight) alpaca, but I'm not sure if he'll get it or whether it'll go to my cousin who lives in northern Alberta. I started another with Frog Tree sport weight alpaca, but I'm not real happy with the yarn. I'm thinking about getting the knitting machine out for that one, because, really, do I want to knit a double-layer toque in stockinette with slippery sport weight yarn by hand?

I also started a pair of socks for DB, but after getting him to try on the half-finished sock, I think I'm going to rip them out. The cuff was about an inch longer than it should have been, and a bit baggy. I think he'd be better off with ribbed socks, and there's not enough knitted foot to salvage for that.

So now I've got several pairs of socks to be getting on with. They should make good travelling projects and I nice break from the four mystery lace KAL's I joined. Yes, four. And they all start in the next two months. At some point I will end up with all four on the needles unless I put one off for a while. And I'm already behind on the first one

. I sat down and swatched for the “Spring Shawl Surprice” a couple of days ago. I bought a bucketload of lace yarns so I have a couple of choices. I really like the lambswool/angora from Colourmart, but it blocks out quite open and airy. The cone feels awfully light but I really don't know how much of it I've previously used. I have several swatches and mis-starts floating around here somewhere. I started to do the second swatch in Colourmart cash/merino, which I know I would like, but the swatch keeps going awry on the 12th or 13th row. The cash/merino really blooms up nice, fuller than the angora blend even though they're the same weight.

I think I've got enough knitting projects on the to-do list to keep me busy for the rest of the year. The knitting was pretty intense this past year and pretty much my main focus, craft-wise. I want to do some other stuff as well in 2008. I've got some rughooking projects on the go that I want to get done since I've told myself I can't start any new ones until I've got at least 2 finished. I want to get back into spinning too, especially since my brother agreed to make me a spinning wheel (yay!). I've also got to make up some penny rugs for pattern samples. My Auntie A made one up for me already, in only one weekend (picture to come later)! I hope I can do so well

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Pit Stop

Sunday, December 9, 2007 2:17:36 PM

knitting, papercrafts, penny rugs, crafts ...

It's been a while, so you'd think I'd have lots of stuff to post... not so much, really. There's the hook-in we hosted on Dec. 1 but that'll have to wait for the photos. And I finished knitting a scarf but I'm waiting on a photo of that on it's new owner.

I finally picked a wrap pattern (Nona's Tie One On), but I wasn't crazy about the bind-off-and drop-stitch bit. Naturally I had to change it. I finally settled on purse fagot stitch, and after miscountng rows, I decided to add some eyelets as well. I really like the way it's turning out. I just have the ties left.

I got Mom measured for her vest. I still have to fine tune it a bit, but I think I've got a handle on the pattern. I was waiting for some needles to arrive from Elann, and they showed up, so there's no holding me back now. My to-knit list also has a couple of hats, some wristwarmers, and maybe a pair of socks. And an ornament or two. Or three or four or --- aargh! I've done it again, haven't I? I'm infamous for working on presents up to the last minute.

Truthfully, there are only a few gifts I give at Christmas time, or even on birthdays. I tend to give gifts whenever I feel like it. If I have something for somebody I usually can't wait until the next holiday for an excuse for gift-giving

And I hate deadlines. It's fine once in a while, but make myself crazy over it? Nope. I realized a long time ago I'd like to do more than I can actually manage, and there's absolutely no point in self-imposed stress, especially at a time of year when we should all be enjoying ourselves. Besides, surprise gifts are more fun.

Speaking of enjoying myself, I'm hoping I'll have some free time to do a little papercrafting. I read several card-model blogs and they led me to this: Tabblo. Use your own photos to make a photocube. I've been thinking about using card-models as gift boxes and I think this would be a great one. Turn it into an ornament and pop a wee gifty inside.

Along with that, I've got some work to do too. I sent some penny rug patterns off to be tested and I've got to get some more instructions written. They should be ready sometime in January. That's got me a bit enthusiastic and I'm hoping the momentum will carry me on into the redwork designs I've started.

Hmm, sounds like I should be too busy to sit here typing... back to work!

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