Fiber Fool

I had many, many e-mails and pms on Ravelry asking for a) a more traditionally constructed sock using the paw prints from Guided by Love or b) a cat (rather than dog) pattern. Since the only difference between cat and dog paw prints are the size which in this pattern can only be changed through a change in gauge, consider these the cat socks. In reality the story behind the socks you knit are your own story, so knit Guided By Love (rav) to honor your 20 year old cat or knit Pyewacket (rav) in memorial to your childhood dog or vice versa.

For you cat lovers, Pyewacket socks are named for a famous cat. They are named for the cat in Bell, Book and Candle starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak with a young Jack Lemmon. Here, you can see my sister’s cat, Rembrandt (aka Mr. Pissy Pants - though I’ve been told he is growing out of the nickname) with the Pyewacket socks.

The pattern is written with four sizes or rather stitch counts. There is a table with those stitch counts and five gauges from 7-9 sts/in so everyone should be able to find a gauge/size combo that will fit them. The stitch pattern is presented in written out format as well as in charts. It is written for 5 DPNs, but those familiar with Magic Loop or 2 circs methods should easily be able to adapt the pattern. It is knit top down with an Eye of Partridge heel flap and gusset (again, feel free to substitute your favorite heel and/or toe) and wedge toe.

I have many thanks to give out. Firstly, to my sample/test knitter Sara Schley. You did a fantastic job, thank you! I could never have released this pattern before 2009 without your help! Thanks also go out to Amanda for modeling the socks for me at the lovely Catalyst Coffee and Wine Bar. Last, but definitely not least - many, many thanks to Drew for the early anniversary gift of a hot shoe flash and related accoutrement. I am no longer constrained to time and locations with natural lighting for my photo shoots! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Once again I’m experiencing some technical glitches on Ravelry so the pattern isn’t directly purchasable through Ravelry at this time. Casey has been made aware of the problem by myself and many others and is working to fix it. In the meantime, it is available through my store here and the file is still served up by Ravelry so Ravelry members *should* still be able to store the file in their library. If you run into problems with the purchase please let me know as I cannot test it for myself.

Pattern: Mitered Diamond Bag (Rav)
Designer: Kristi Schueler
Source: Interweave Felt 2008 (on newsstands September 9th)
Yarn: 7 colors of Manos del Uraguay
Needles: US 11
Made For: Class Sample

A couple weeks ago I knit a second Mitered Diamond Bag (no, I haven’t shown it) because I needed a class sample before I’ll have the original returned to me. I used some scraps and some full skeins of Manos del Uraguay that Amanda destashed and two additional colors I bought to tie the bag together. There are 7 or 8 colors (I don’t recall) in this version. With all these colors I’ve called it my Technicolor Dream Bag, LOL!

The original bag will be in the special issue of IK Felt 2008. It uses Cascade 220 and uses 4 colors for the body and black for the handles.

The Manos version shown in this post resulted in a thicker bag which held the creases more sharply than the original Cascade 200 version in the magazine. But I love them both. For me, these fun shaped bags are all about the unique shape and the colors. They make a statement.

That doesn’t mean the bag needs to be knit from a riot of colors like I have done. In fact, I’ll be knitting a third one before the holidays in shades of tan, gray, and brown for my mom. A neutral one will still make a statement. Or throw in a rich brown or a black with the colors to tone things down a tad. The bag is a blank canvas just waiting for your own signature color combination.

It can be a great project to use up scraps as each section takes only ~1/2 ounce of worsted weight feltable wool yarn. Even if the colors of your scraps seem too scattered and unconnected they can often be pulled together with the purchase of only one or two additional colors making it an economical project.

I’ll be teaching two class sessions of this bag over the next few months. For each, the first class will include some discussion of color theory and guidance on choosing and/or placing your colors on the bag. I do request that if you can take a weekday class that you please sign up for that session and leave the Saturday session open for those who cannot take a weekday class. Enrollment is open now, just stop in at My Sister Knits or call (970) 407-1461 and reserve your place with a credit card.

I love this time of year. When the farmer’s markets are so full of fresh produce it is difficult to decide what to bring home for the week. Though when it is peach time we hardly ever leave without at least a small bag of peaches in hand. This year it has seemed the peaches are always a few days away from being quite ready. In fact, I haven’t seen a stand yet that has had tasters out this year. When the peaches aren’t quite ready I have a tendency to forget about them until they all need using *right now.* In general that works fairly well. There is always the old family cobbler recipes that will use up 4 peaches.

However, when do you do when you have 5 or 6 small peaches ready to turn on you and you are in the middle of a a 23 day streak of 90+ weather? Without AC the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven for 45 minutes - even for something as good as the family peach cobbler.

Well, you cut up the peaches, sprinkle them with a touch of lime juice to retain color and some sugar to free the juices. Then, you strain 6 cups of locally made, low-fat, plain yoghurt down to 3 cups. You mix it all together with 1/2 cup of local honey and a 1 tsp of locally made pure vanilla extract and put it in the Donvier or ice cream maker. In about 30 minutes or so you have the most delicious bowl of summer! And, it was all local and organic too!

Now I can’t wait for our peach tree to be old enough to let fruit! Only another 2 or 3 years to go! *sigh*

That is all that came home with me from Brown Sheep! Can you imagine?

Okay, that isn’t *quite* the whole truth. I also brought home an “order” of yarn for two different sweaters for Amanda. She’s even planning on knitting of them for the Ravelympics! Go, Amanda!

Really, seriously, the 13 skeins of Top of the Lamb Sport seen above are the only things that came home with me to stay. I bought them to make the Gathered Pullover from the Winter 2007 IK (rav link). Amanda got yarn for that as well so we might do our own local KAL on that one when things for me slow down enough that I have time/energy to knit just for me.

The trip was fantastic though! 26 people were a part of the trip. It started at Sheila’s home with a fantastic breakfast on china and crystal. She has the most fantastic garden and fun and energizing home as well so it was a great way to kick off an early morning departure. I rode in the vehicle that she rode in so we were a bit behind everyone else so none of us got to take a tour, but we had all been on a tour not that long ago so it was no problem at all. Then there was a catered lunch with a deli tray and salads and two gals had birthdays on either side of our trip so there was also birthday cake and cookies.

Everything went so smoothly it was amazing. There was a Brown family emergency the day before our trip that kind of threw some of the plans out of kilter, but duties shuffled around and they pulled of a great day. I even got home early enough to run an errand and eat dinner with DH before going to SnB!

Today I’m away from the computer all day for some fun. I don’t think it could have come at a better time. This heat has me vying for the Ms. Crankypants 2008 crown.

The above picture is something that has been occupying the few moments I can stand having a large woolly object sitting in my lap for the past couple weeks. It should have taken me less than a week to knit, but the size and our heat slowed me down. It wasn’t so bad though. Pacing my work on that freed me to get a few more designs in process.

I still can’t tell you what that photo above is. It’s a second of a design that will be hitting newsstands in early September. So, I’m hopeful the web page about it and that will be up soon so I can share more with you.

I can give you a hint - I’m teaching two class sessions on it in the upcoming months. I knit it a second time because I need a class sample and can’t be sure to get my original item back in time. I think the class will be lots of fun and I hope to help everyone be brave in their color choices (though that isn’t required, I’ll be making a third before too long in a palette of neutral colors for my mom). Either way, in the class you’ll learn more than just new knitting techniques. You’ll learn some fundamentals of color theory as well!