Spring Blossoms and Stash

I must be ready for warmer weather. The Spring Blossoms Shawl by Eugen Buegler has been on my project list since I picked up the pattern at Stitches West last year. That project list never seems to get any shorter.

I dug into my stash and found this gorgeous violet/purple/periwinkle laceweight merino from Inspirations Yarn. Margaret hand-dyed this especially for me in her "Espresso" laceweight. I think the subtly blended colors are just perfect, and they are not so disparate that they detract from the lacework. I hope Mr. Buegler would approve. The yarn is very soft, and the shawl will be amethystly cozy. My birthday is in February, and I've always had a fondness for all things purple. My birthstone is amethyst, and my favorite color is violet.

Since I've started organizing my stash on Ravelry, I've begun to make some real decisions about what yarns to use for projects. Thus far, I've used Ravelry mainly for organization and reading about other knitters and projects. The socializing part of Ravelry is great, but it just adds another "thing to do" to my list of groups and forums.

Digging into my stash was particularly therapeutic and delightful. In recent years, I've earned some yarns by knitting samples for designers, and other yarns I've found by chance while visiting a yarn shop or a knitting show or conference. I gave up the idea of just buying yarn for specific projects long ago.

Now, my stash is my yarn shop. It's not as big as some knitters' stashes, but certainly respectable as far as stashes go. I've already photographed about 40 different yarns for my Stash organization project on Ravelry. This may be about half of my stash, but I won't know until it's all categorized and labeled. Do not judge me, lest ye be judged.

Ravelry's Stash tool allows a member to post a photograph and all the details about the yarn, including quantity, color, content, weight, gauge, etc. You can make notes about a potential project or anything else pertinent. In many cases, the yarn is already listed in Ravelry's database, so entering a yarn description is simple -- just modify the sample information to fit your specifications. If the yarn is not in Ravelry's database, you are given the option to add yours as the first example.

The entire Stash is then downloadable to Excel for data manipulation and sorting by color, fiber content, manufacturer, etc. This is a great tool for planning projects. Sometimes, I remember a color or type of yarn in my stash, but then I don't know how much I have or even where it is located. My overtaxed brain can use all the help it can get.

Ravelry's Stash tool has opened my eyes to my own stash. I have new appreciation for the yarns I've collected, and now I can see them all in one place. (Okay, two places. I did have to upload all the photos to flickr, the prefered photo host for Ravelry.)

Springtime Jacket

Springtime, you ask? With all of the wild, woolly weather we've been having lately, a little springtime might be in order.

This is the Springtime Jacket by Melissa Leapman (modified with cables and applied I-cord trim). It was a freebie pattern that came in the mail with an advertisement to subscribe to Knit 'N Style magazine. It's also in their April 2007 issue.

I liked the simple lines and that it was all moss stitch. The texture makes it feel a little more substantial than plain stockinette. The longer length and the bell sleeves seemed right for me. I actually started this a few months ago, but other deadlines took precedence, and I just finished it during our most recent wet and stormy weekend when the power was out.

As usual, I decided to modify the design a bit. See that wavy cable? It wasn't in the pattern, and I added it after I made the two fronts and the back. I knit it separately in one long strip, using short rows to turn the corners at the neck, and then I sewed it on with a whip stitch making a slight ridge where it meets up with the body. The wave cable panel is a slightly wider version of Barbara Walker's. I added two sts on each side of the cable, making a nice ridge along the outer edges, for a total width of 12 sts. It goes like this (cn = cable needle):

Multiple of 12 sts
Row 1 (WS and all odd rows) -- p2, k2, p4, k2, p2

Row 2 -- k2, p2, (sl2 to cn, hold to back, k2, k2 from cn), p2, k2

Row 4, 6, 8 -- k2, p2, k4, p2, k2

Row 10 -- k2, p2, (sl2 to cn, hold to front, k2, k2 from cn), p2, k2

Row 12, 14, 16 -- k2, p2, k4, p2, k2

Shortening Sleeves

The yarn is Cascade Dolce, a luscious, soft wool, alpaca and silk blend. It knits up beautifully, with a pretty drape. BUT it doesn't have as much memory as 100% wool, so the sleeves hung a bit too long.

To remedy this, after I blocked the pieces and basted them together, I measured the length of sleeve I wanted and then pinned where I wanted to cut off the cuff. Yes, I said CUT off the cuff. I had done this before in stockinette, but not in moss stitch which is a little bit trickier. This seems like a drastic and scary thing to do, but it's a great way to shorten or lengthen sleeves on a finished garment. I suggest experimenting on a swatch before doing it on your beautiful sweater.

First, I opened the sleeve seam about four inches. Then I counted up 11 rows from the bottom of the cuff to where I was going to cut and marked the row with a safety pin on both the left and right sides of the piece. This has to be precise, or you'll end up cutting threads on two different rows.

Then I snipped the yarn on each end of the row. I gently pulled it apart a couple of stitches at a time, careful not to let the stitches start to ladder. Once I had a good five inches or so of the snipped yarn to hold onto, I wrapped it around my fingers a couple of times and slowly but firmly pulled the snipped yarn (one row) completely out.

This is where it gets tricky in moss stitch. After the row is pulled out and the bottom of the cuff is separated from the sleeve, the live stitches are ready to be picked up. In this case, with moss stitch, the stitches twist every which way making it harder to pick them up in a straight line. With stockinette, this is much easier, as the stitches all stay lined up like little soldiers.

Basically, I just put each live stitch onto a circular needle, making sure not to skip any. I wanted a somewhat firmer edge at the bottom of the sleeve as well as the bottom of the sweater itself. I chose to add an attached I-cord as a finishing touch.

The attached I-cord is easy to do, especially when you have live stitches on a circular needle. For the sleeve, that's just what I had. For the body, I had to pick up stitches all around the bottom.

The other thing to be aware of is the bias stretch. With moss stitch, the knitted fabric will naturally stretch "on the bias" or diagonally. The pieces will look completely misshapen and weird until you block them. The cable trim and the applied I-cord help to keep the jacket in shape.

This was an easy sweater to make. I'd recommend using wool. Alpaca is lovely and soft, but it will droop, especially with the extra weight of bell sleeves. Also, if you make this one, don't forget to check the errata. I sent in a correction to the shoulder shaping, and they posted it on the Knit 'N Style corrections page.

For convenience, here's the edit I sent them:

APRIL 2007, Project 1: KNITTED Springtime Jacket

BACK

Shape Shoulders

BO 4 sts each armhole edge 3 times, then BO 3 (4, 4, 5, 6) sts each neck edge once.

(By the way, does it bug anyone else that the only apostrophe used in "Knit 'N Style" is before the "N"? I mean, if an apostrophe is a substitute for missing letters, shouldn't there be one after the "N," too? I digress ... )

Eastern Lace Sweater

I've finished the Eastern Lace sweater. This one was so much fun to make! The pattern is from Y2Knit. Two sisters run the business, and they have some lovely, creative patterns, in a wide range of sizes. While at the TKGA conference a few months ago, I ran into Jill at the Y2Knit booth who showed me some of their gorgeous designs. This one is absolutely one of my favorites.

The faux wrap is ingenious. It's knit as a V-neck sweater, with set in sleeves. The "wrap" is a strip of seed stitch picked up and knit from the bottom hem, then at an angle up the front and around the neckline. With a couple of sewn tacks at strategic spots, the wrap looks just like a wrap should, but without the possibility of gapping open. (Busty gals take note.)

The great thing about this Y2Knit pattern is that it is written out line by line. In addition, they provide a schematic with measurements for each size, and a lace chart. What could be sweeter? The designers are very accessible and helpful if you have any questions.

The yarn is 100% linen and has a nice, elegant drape after it's washed. Linen is always a little tough on the hands while knitting, but the finished product is gorgeous. I really like this soft blue, which goes with so many things.

The sleeve has an elegant detail -- a seed stitch vent that lets the sleeves drape open at the wrist. Here's one photo of the sleeve as it was being blocked. (I was playing with the settings on my camera, so the color looks different in each photo. I think the second photo looks the closest to the actual color.)

Next up, my moss stitch cardigan has been waiting for sleeves, and sleeves it shall have! I'm almost done with sleeve #1. Two sweaters completed in a month? Do you think I can do it?

Remember me?

Wow, it's December! Where did November go? Much knitting has been in progress including two baby sweaters and the swatch pictured here. No baby sweater photos as yet, but hope to have some soon.

This lacy swatch was completed on November 1, and since then I've been working on the _____ ______ ______ which will be completed by the end of this week. I'm very happy with the pattern. It's fun and a bit challenging. I'm fascinated by the way this lacy pattern twists and turns and still knits a straight path.

Can you guess what I'm making? Bonus points if you know the name of this lace pattern or the designer. More photos to come, as I am almost finished with this project.

This past Saturday, I was planning to go to the Lacis Lace Knitting Group meeting in Berkeley, but something happened and BART went awry, so ... we went to Nine Rubies in San Mateo instead.

What a great place! Nina and I must have touched every type of yarn in the shop. The woman who helped us (not the owner) was very knowledgable and gave good advice. It was rather busy, with a class in the back room and several knitters occupying the seating in the "living room" area.

I wasn't really in the market to buy any new yarn, but just try to stop me when I incessantly fondle something new. Cascade Venezia is 70% wool and 30% silk. It's absolutely luscious, soft, and has a gorgeous sheen. The silk gives the color depth, and I was swimming in it before I decided to purchase a few skeins with which to experiment. I like the indestructible shopping bags the store provides with purchase -- great for use as auxiliary project totes.

I promise not to be so silent this month!

Candy Corn Hat and Moss Stitch Cardigan

Has anyone else noticed a recent baby boom? This time around it seems to have proliferated amongst my friends' younger sisters and my younger cousins. One of my many cousins is due shortly, and she asked if I might make her a candy corn hat for the infant-to-be. It was easy as pumpkin pie to crochet using Lion Microspun - very soft yarn, readily available now in Halloween colors.

But oops ... that baby isn't quite ready to say hello to the world. I do know of a recently sprung baby who might just like to wear this on Halloween. It's definitely infant sized. Now, what to do with the remainder yellow, orange and white microfiber yarn? Hmmm ...

I've stalled on a couple of projects, namely the Lavori doily and the Boho Blocks cardigan. Both will be completed (when I get around to it).

The slightly chilly nights encouraged me to dive into some dark green wool/alpaca/silk blend called Dolce, from Cascade Yarns that had been hibernating in my stash. This freebie Melissa Leapman pattern, Springtime Cardigan, came in the mail (also available in Knit 'N Style, April 2007). Remember to check the Errata page at Knit 'N Style for corrections to this pattern (sent to the publisher by me!).

It's an easy moss stitch pattern, with set-in bell sleeves and gentle waist shaping. The Dolce yarn is just like it sounds - sweet! It's lovely and soft on your hands.

I'm debating whether to add a cable border strip to give it a little something extra, but for right now, it's just moss stitch.

I'm glad I've had experience knitting moss stitch before, because the bias stretch is somewhat unnerving. It looks completely misshapen until you block it. A border strip would help define the shape and square it off, while reducing the effect of the bias stretch.

I'm also thinking about my next lace project. I have some wonderful new yarn to fondle, and it's got me dreaming about lace.

The first is Louet's Euroflax 14/2 linen. This is laceweight flax that has a soft glowy sheen in navy blue. A half-pound cone has about 1,300 yards. I'm thinking about making the Paisley Long Shawl from Fiddlesticks. I know, I originally picked the red cashmere from Colourmart, but I think I'd rather see this shawl in a darker color.

The yardage should be enough if I don't add fringe (and I'm not a fringe-y person, although some may disagree).

Another wonderful yarn with which I am unexpectedly enamored is also from Louet. It's called Kidlin, a mohair-wrapped linen, which is absolutely ethereal. The color is Bryce Canyon, and it couldn't be more aptly named. The linen base yarn is a soft rose color, and the mohair fuzzy fiber wrapped around it is a warm tan color - an inspired interpretation of a canyon sunset.

I'm interested to see how this will knit up. Linen and mohair just don't seem suited to blend together, but this yarn begs to be knit up into something angelic. I'll report back when I have some experience with it.

TKGA Knit and Crochet Show

On Saturday, September 29, I went to The Knitting Guild Association's (TKGA) Knit and Crochet Show in Oakland, CA. I met Jeannette, Marty, Tara and Matthew (aka DoilyDude) of IBKC Yahoo group at Daly City BART, and we happily knitted on the way over. The 12th Street BART station is right across the street from the Oakland Marriott.

The attendee line was fairly long at 10am, but I scooted up to the exhibitor desk which had no line and got my badge. My friend Tina of Knitwhits had asked me to work in her booth, so I spent the majority of the day there amongst the adorable hat, scarf, sock, purse, and other Knitwhits kits. The scarf above is one of her lovely crochet patterns called Ella. Some of the most popular items were the Flore (the petal hat at right) and Ripley hat kits that come in a variety of color combos. Purse kits were also flying out the door, like Lexi the houndstooth bag suitable for work or play. What a busy day! I didn't think that TKGA would be as busy as Stitches, but for the first few hours I was having flashbacks. The shoppers were out in force, credit cards in hand, and they were definitely buying.

When I had time for a break, I walked around and visited the usual suspects, plus some others that were new to me. The Y2Knit booth was right across from ours. Jill Wolcott is one of two sisters who own the business. The designs were lovely, inventive, and many of the sweaters were sized from small to 3x or 4x. Jill lives in San Francisco and her sister has a shop in Maryland. Jill was wearing this short Latice Lace Wrap, which was simply charming. The lacy insert has a twisted open stitch that looks much like broomstick lace.

Another exciting booth was Gita Maria, whose wares include enameled shawl pins and shawl kits in beautiful packaging. The shawl designs are wild, open and lacy and the shawl pins are gorgeous like this autumn inspired pumpkin pin.

I also enjoyed revisiting Geddes Studio, where I had bought gorgeous handmade glass buttons at Stitches West. Nancy Geddes' shift from engineer to artist is fascinating and compelling. She had discovered the beauty of dichroic glass while working as an aerospace engineer, and extrapolated her nascent art project into an idea for a growing family business. Her buttons, as she mentioned to me, end up on coffee tables as conversation pieces as often as they become attached to finished garments. I must admit, my favorite Geddes button is waiting patiently to be affixed to some future sweater. I fondle it from time to time and bring it out to watch my visitors ooh and ahh. The photo is an example of Nancy's artwork.

Due to my recent yarn spending spree, I decided to forego any new yarn purchases, but I did pick up a pattern for the Spring Blossoms shawl, by Eugen Beugler, from Terilyn Needleart. Lynn Curry, the proprietor from Redwood City, offers a lovely selection of her own lace shawl patterns, plus Fiber Trends and others. At present, the business is Internet only, but she does attend shows like TKGA. Lynn is a member of The Lacy Knitters Guild in Mountain View and the editor of their newsletter. What stopped me in my tracks was her display of the lace doilies knitted by Marguerite Shimmons. The Shimmons doilies are legendary and a number of them have been donated to the Lacis Museum for posterity.

I also ran into a few friends from the knitting world, like Ann of afghans for Afghans. (The first "a" of "afghans for Afghans" is intentionally lowercase to differentiate between the blankies and the people.) I don't know how she finds the time to do all that she does, but there she was, shopping in the market after attending a class. Ann is coordinating a big shipment of handknitted items to be sent overseas to Afghanistan in October to help clothe the Afghan orphans during their very cold winter. The deadline for contributions is October 12. They can always use extra hands for packing, so if you have a free afternoon, drop her an line. She graciously invited me to join her and some other knitters at a pub after the show, but I was too pooped to party.

On the BART train, a few knitters and I sat together discussing the show, and of course, the knitterly camaraderie made us instant pals.

Tribbles

I may be dating myself here, as I compare my latest project to an episode of Star Trek. In the episode entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles," an enterprising trader sells a few harmless looking pets to members of the Starship Enterprise's crew. First, Lieutenant Uhura becomes enamored with the round, fuzzy, earmuff-shaped creatures. The Tribbles emit a soothing purr which the crew finds particularly charming.

The Trouble with Tribbles is that, as Dr. McCoy states, "they are born pregnant," and the growing population soon threatens to consume all of the starship's supplies and patience. To add misery to their mischief, they physically enter the ship's systems and basically wreak havoc, while poor engineer Scotty mutters Scottish Gaelic curses.

To spare you all the pseudo-scientific details, let's just skip to the end of the story. Scotty finds a way to beam all of the Tribbles onto a Klingon ship, where, as he quips, "they'll be no tribble at all." Actually, Klingons hate Tribbles, and vice versa. In fact, Tribbles emit high-pitched shrieks when coming into contact with Klingons (a nice finishing touch to the story).

Now we come to my own Tribbles, i.e., Boho Blocks. It started out innocently enough. I had acquired some lovely 3-ply hand-dyed silk from Interlacements. It was a "Dyer's Choice" blue/violet/dark grey batch that was never replicated. But I saw it and fell in love. The amazing thing about it was that each of the three plies was itself a lovely 2-ply silk thread, heavy enough to be considered fingering or light DK weight.

Thus began my troubles. I began by UNPLYING, the considerable yardage. I figured that with the yarn unplied, I might have enough to do the main body of the Boho Blocks Cardigan from Interweave Crochet, Fall 2006. I calculated how many yards of a single ply would be required to make one square. Then I hung the whole skein around my swift, unwound the required length, enough for three squares, cut it, unplied it, and rewound it into three little skeins. I felt so smug having figured out how to increase the yield of my lovely Interlacements silk.

Yet, my troubles were not over. The pattern requires 144 squares, but I only had enough yarn to make around 100 or so. No problem. I promptly ordered a few mini-cones of 2/12 Gemstone Silk from Halcyon Yarn in Maine. I loved the way the woman answered the phone, "Halcyon YAHN," in her comforting I've-heard-it-all manner. The colors I ordered were blue, violet and magenta, plus a big hank of black to sew everything together. I checked the site today, and it seems not all of my colors are still available. A lesson here: always buy more than enough to finish your project!

I thought I had saved enough of my main color (the Interlacements silk) to crochet around all of the final squares. Nope. Ten of them needed a little finagling. I scrounged scraps of silk from the bottom of my knitting bag and cut off long ends from the early squares where I had left generously long unused ends. And still, to make ends meet (pardon the pun), I dared to border a few of the last squares with a little of the blue Cascade silk I had remaining from the Myrtle Leaf Shawl.

Never you mind! It will all be okay, I promise. Photos of the finished cardigan are forthcoming. Sewing has commenced. And I love each and every little square, no matter how troublesome. Replication has ceased. End transmission.

A little bit more

The Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, 100% washable, fingering weight, merino yarn arrived. I ordered it during the Handpaint Heaven Labor Day Sale at quite a discount, so it was especially satisfying to see this luscious yarn in my hot little hands. The color is "Old Rose" -- and the photos of the dye sample on the HH website do not depict the color acurately.

It is ... absolutely ... gorgeous. With two skeins, 420 yards per skein, this is going to make something lovely.

Okay, enough with the new yarn already! Somebody stop me!

I see yarn ... all the time ...

You have to understand my consternation. That gorgeous Alchemy Alpaca Pure yarn at the Greenwich Yarn Sale on Sunday was not my first bit of conspicuous consumption in recent weeks. Nope.

On Saturday, I received this wonderful 100% merino laceweight from Margaret at Inspirations Yarn. The colors are violets and plums, beautifully blended. Margaret dyes the yarn herself in small batches, so every skein is unique and lovely. This one is her Espresso weight, that comes 1,760 yards to the skein! That's enough for a nice big 100% merino shawl.

The yarn arrived in the mail while I was out at the third meeting of the Lacis Lace Knitters group in Berkeley. I can't be blamed for additional fiber purchases if I didn't know I had a yarn package waiting for me at home! Lacis has a wonderful selection of threads for the lace knitter. I picked up some threads for future doily knitting, including some Flora thread from Germany. The rose color might make a pretty center for a floral doily and the green may make some interesting leaves. I'm going to look through my doily patterns to see which one might be appropriate.

In addition I purchased some navy blue thread. I've never made a doily in a dark color before, so I thought it would be an interesting experiment. White or light colored doilies and tablecloths are the most common, mainly because that was the prevailing color of thread available in years past, and also because the light color is enhanced by the dark wood of a table underneath.

Besides the threads, I picked up a couple of fun things: an embroidered velvet eyeglass case on a cord. It's made in Guatemala, evidenced by the bright colors of the embroidery (and the tag inside). It can hang from your shoulder or neck, and it has a zipper compartment that can hold other items, too.

And finally, I couldn't resist the little fuzzy wool sheep I found sitting on a shelf all by his lonesome, near the Zephyr yarn display at Lacis. He now has a home on my fireplace mantel.

As long as I'm confessing, I'll let you know that I'm expecting additional packages to arrive for me sometime in the next few days. One is the Cherry Tree Hill yarn I purchased at the Handpaint Heaven Labor Day sale. Another is yarn I earned for test knitting a sample. And I'm sure I'll pick up something at the TKGA Knit and Crochet Show in Oakland when I go there on September 30.

Woe is me. Or should I say, WHOA is me?

Five Stages of Yarnaholism (or how I couldn't resist Alchemy at 25% off)

Denial

Suggest problem has corrected itself and it will soon be over
“I need this new yarn to make the shawl I saw in that book, that’s all. I will certainly not buy any more yarn, after today.”

Exhibit apathy and numbness
“No problem. I have the cash. It’s no big deal. So what if it doesn’t fit in my yarn closet or in the basket in the living room or in the Rubbermaid storage bin in the garage.”

Rationalize
“I’ll make it fit. Heck, I deserve this. It’s only yarn.”

Anger

Sabotage the change effort
“If I go to the yarn sale, I might buy yarn. But if I don’t go I’ll miss seeing my knitting pals and having a good time. I’ll go to the sale.”

Play "shoot the messenger"
“Damn that salesperson. If she hadn’t told me the Alchemy was on sale, I never would have bought it. Well, I might have. I would have. Damn her.”

Withdraw from society
“Okay, fine. So, you want to make something out of it? Get outta my way; I’m going shopping.”

Bargaining

Cut a deal to spare others harm
“Honey, I know I said I wouldn’t buy any more yarn. But see, this yarn I’ve looked at so many times is on sale. And I’ll never-ever-ever find it on sale again at this price. And, you know, they discontinue yarns all the time. So, if I buy this yarn, uhm, you can buy that baseball card you’ve been wanting. And we’ll both be on purchase restriction after that.”

Suggest other concerns to redirect problem solving
“Well, I’m just glad I paid that insurance bill. Don’t have to think about that any more. Isn’t that great? Oh, and I have to remember to pick up the dry cleaning. Did I water the tomato plants today?”

Depression

Express a loss of control
“I admit it’s getting a little out of hand. The yarn in little pyramid piles on the floor was cute for a while. I just don’t see it as a design element anymore. I’m never going to be able to knit all this yarn.”

Withdraw from society.
“I’ve now officially got SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy). I’m just going to have to forego any more yarn sales. If I go, I’ll buy. I’ll just become a hermit. That’s all there is to it.”

Acceptance

Express ownership for solutions
“I do not need any more yarn. I must take a stand.”

Focus on achieving benefits
“When I finish using at least … 30% of my stash, then I can buy more yarn. But not until then! Okay, 20%.”

AND I GOT IT AT GREENWICH ...

Greenwich Yarn End of Summer Sale is from September 7 - 23. Topnotch yarns from 25%-70% off, including Alchemy, Debbie Bliss, Noro, and many, many more. I'm not kidding -- it's an extraordinary sale. If you're in the Bay Area, it's worth a trip.

Greenwich Yarn
2073 Greenwich
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-567-2535