The feats and foibles of a fiber fanatic.
4/21/2006
Pattern: Seraphim by Miriam Felton
Yarn: NatureSpun Sport by Brown Sheep in Chuck Berry, Seconds, 5 Skeins
Needles: US 6 Addi Turbos (I went up a size since I was using a slightly thicker yarn)
Dimension: ~75″ across and ~37″ from center back to tip
Recipient: Me (though it may go to grandma Schueler depending upon Mom’s success with the pattern)
Process Dates: March 17th, 2006 - April 20th, 2006
Adjustments: I took out a total of 24 stitches from the top stockinette section to account for my larger yarn, needles, and gauge. Also, on the last design row of the chart I took out the first decrease of each half of the shawl as the stitch counts weren’t working for me with that decrease in there. Since I was at SnB at the time I can’t say that the error wasn’t me, but it looks fine in its final state.
Monday evening I completed the knitting portion of Seraphim at SnB and following a wonderful last supper with Mom and DH at Bisetti’s I bound it off. It was a bit of a race as mom wanted to feel it off of the needles. Because I did not have blocking wires and the best place to block something so large is the guest bed she did not get to feel it in its blocked state. But, on Wednesday I got myself a 1 pound package of stainless steel tig welding rods that are 3/32″ in diameter. They worked great to block the shawl.
I’m quite happy with the shawl. There are a few wabi sabis in it that I noticed upon blocking, but nothing hugely obvious. The coloring of the first ball of yarn sometimes strikes me as a big deal and other times seems as though it could almost pass as being part of the design. It blended in better I think when it was wet. Partially because of this and partially because it is my first shawl and does have some mistakes it will likely be a home shawl, so it is now living on my chair in the living room.
Miriam did a wonderful job with this pattern. It is a great place to start if you are new to lace knitting I think. While I wasn’t new to lace knitting per se, I was knew to actually finishing a shawl project. The stockinette beginning was just what I needed as I took on this project shortly after learning that my paternal grandmother had taken a rather serious turn for the worse. She has improved since, but I found the stockinette to be quite therapeutic. The lace portion was fairly easy to memorize, especially when one design row repeated a few times. That repetition allowed me to do some of the lace knitting while watching television or visiting with friends. The charts were also very readable.
It has been a looong time since I had a FO! Man does it feel good!
You may still put in your guess for yesterday’s contest until Monday morning, whenever I’m ready to post. All correct guesses will get thrown into the hat so-to-speak.
I’ll leave you with some more photos of a modeled Seraphim (I’m taking suggestions on which shot(s) to send to my Grandma Bakke, a former knitter and sometimes fixer of mom’s mistakes, just click on them for larger versions)…
Have a great weekend!
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Edit: I forgot to mention the Dye-O-Rama Swap that Scout and a few others are hosting. For those of you wanting the perfect excuse to get into dyeing or those who are old hat but would like to have some fun knitting someone else’s dye scheme head over and sign-up. They are having sign-ups open for only 48 hours and the doors opened at 6pm (MDT) last night so time is ticking!
2/15/2006
Pattern: DK Swamp Socks (to be available soon), 64 Sts
Yarn: 1 Skein Knit Picks Color Your Own, in DK Bayou colorway, 440 yds Fingering Weight 100% Merino
Needles: 2 16-inch Addi Turbos in US 1 (2.5 mm)
Gauge: 8.5 sts/inch in st st
Recipient: Myself, because I’m greedy!
Process Dates: January 30th - February 13th, 2006
Notes: This pair of socks was an entirely new experience for me. I knit them on 2 circulars from the toe up. That meant learning a new cast-on (or two, I tried the provisional cast-on with a short row toe and then opted for the Turkish cast-on), making short row heels, and learning a new bind off technique (sewn bind-off). That said, this was one of the fastest pair of sock-weight socks I’ve knit despite two major frogging sessions between the pair (one session per sock). The gauge is a bit looser than I tend to usually use so I was using a smaller number of sts than my previous sock-weight socks so I’m not quite ready to conceed that socks soar on two circulars. Though I did like 2-circs much, much better than magic loop and may end up being a convert. We’ll see how I feel using them for top down varieties…
I wore the socks all day yesterday and have had no problems of the sock twisting on my foot like I feared would happen with the short-row heels. I did do one more set of wraps on the second heel to narrow it a bit and that did help get rid of the “ears” my heel had with the first sock. But I’m still not sure I’m a fan of the short row heels. I really don’t like that the sides of the heel don’t match (I know, how very knit picky of me) and despite picking up extra stiches at the rejoin with the rest of the stiches I had holes to patch upon completion. The short row heel will be the major deterent for my knitting more socks tow-up. I won’t say I’ll never do it that way, but I’ll probably think pretty hard before choosing to do that again despite my success with the Turkish cast-on and the reverse wedge toe. I do have some yarn from DH that I’ll do toe up so he gets the maximum leg length possible as I know that he likes long legs on his socks and I’d rather not play a guessing game.
2/13/2006
When I was home I did give the slippers to my sister, the hat to grandpa, and the scarf to grandma. All were met with much appreciation and admiration (as they deserved). I have had a few people ask what I ended up doing with the hat dilemma. Well, I pull out the corrugated rib section and just did the i-cord bind off. It looked great. I think the hat is perhaps a little big, but grandpa loves it and couldn’t stop talking about how warm it was.
Unfortunately, whenever we visited with Grandma and Grandpa B it was sort of impromptu and I didn’t have my camera with. I’ve asked my sister to take some modeled shots of the items for me but it could be some time before I get those photos as she currently isn’t on the Internet at her new apartment yet. In fact, knowing her, it could have to wait until my next trip back to MN, LOL!
The day after they had recieved their items grandma couldn’t stop talking about my knitting. It made me blush with pride. She kept saying she never knit anything as fancy as me, LOL! She also kept saying, “Imagine what I would have made if I knew Kristi when I knit!” I love that she can appreciate my efforts and be proud of the results. One day we met them for lunch at a hotel restaurant that had free wi-fi so I could help my mom research some accessibile cell phones options for the visually impaired so I showed grandma my knitting blog and the gallery of hand spun yarns and she was very excited and impressed.
While home Mom and I also tried to go to a yarn/fiber shop in a small town near the farm. There had been a write up in the Willmar Tribune several months ago about this shop but she hadn’t been able to find a phone number for us to find out their hours. So, we drove over there and it ended up they weren’t open at all in the four days I was home. Mom said there was an evening knitting gathering which didn’t match up with the hours on the door to the shop, but with no business phone listing we couldn’t find out if it was a night I was there. But, I’ll definitely have to make the next trip land so that I can visit them. It was called Homespun Studio and it is in Lake Lillian, MN. Their hours as posted on the door are Wednesday - Friday 10am - 4pm and Saturday 9am - noon. It is easy to find as Lake Lillian basically has one street and it is kind of on the north end of the “business district” on the west side of the street. If anyone out there (I know I have some MN readers) have been there I’d be interested in what the shop is like. I decided in such a small town that it would be better to not raise suspicions and window shop, LOL!
Tonight is SnB night! Wheee! I’m gonna need it, I can tell. I heard last week was more like the former gatherings before we doubled our numbers after the new year. I suspect though that it was a fluke because I wasn’t there, LOL! We’ll have to see. As much as I love meeting new knitters and such there has been that missing element of *really* knowing the people there and being able to tease and joke and bitch without second guessing the wiseness of letting something blurt out of your mouth. Most of the newer people seem to be a good fit with the rest of us crazy, liberal, scientific bunch.
P.S. I know this is a monumentally boring post today since there are no pictures. I promise there will be pictures tomorrow! You can hold me to that too!
1/30/2006
Pattern: DK’s Dimple Sock Pattern, 64 St Version with 8 inch leg
Yarn: 3 balls Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big, #659
Needles: US 3 & 4 (3.25 and 3.5 mm)
Recipient: DH
Notes: I can’t convey how awful I found it to knit two pairs of the same sock back-to-back. I won’t ever choose to do that again. However, I thought the pattern was going to be sold through No No Kitty Yarns and then she closed her doors before that happened. So, I felt it necessary to knit the pattern again in a yarn that would show off the stitch pattern a bit better and knit in a yarn that was still available. DH had been asking for more handknit socks and specifically a thick pair. With his birthday approaching it seemed the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. While I finished the second sock on his birthday I was mean and told him he couldn’t wear them until I had the opportunity to get photos of him modeling them in natural light…
I was excited to knit them in orange during this brown-filled season. I really enjoyed knitting with this Lana Grossa yarn and can’t wait to see how well it holds up to wear and washings. I think DH’s request for the feet of his socks to be 1/4 inch longer than my socks made for a bit snugger sock than I would recommend. Next time I’ll make his foot about 1/2 inch longer than mine before starting the toe decreases. For one, he isn’t the best at keeping his toe nails trimmed so if they are the tiniest bit too short I’m afraid he’ll pop his toe right through there. Not to mention his feet are more than 1/4 inch longer than mine. Yes, I have larger feet for women (size 9.5) but they aren’t my sister’s feet (size 11). But, we’ll see what happens. It isn’t like this pair of socks took a ton of time.
I do also have the pattern formatted and ready to go so if you want a pair of dimples for yourself or someone you love you can order it now! There are 5 sizes from about a 4 inch up to an 11 inch ankle so you should be able to make one for everyone you know who needs to keep their feet warm. Plus, the DK weight makes them great for clogs and are a quick knit (I’d say the average knitter could complete a pair in one week of dedicated evening knitting). I’ve included directions for a patterned clog heel (the multi-colored Dimple) or the standard heel flap (the solid color). It is written for 5 DPNs, but if you are familiar with the magic loop or 2-circ method you should be able to adapt it pretty easily.
EDIT: I forgot to give you a peek at the sock wrapper that comes with this design…
1/26/2006
Knit By: Ashley
Yarn: DK Handspun, 100% Wool in Burgundy from Lambspun of Colorado, 300 yds (with not a titch to spare)
Pattern: A World Lit Only by Fire from Lavish Lace
Needles: ???
Recipient: Ashley
This gorgeous lace scarf was knit by one of our SnB gal pals, Ashley. These are the specs as I know them. These photos are of it post-blocking, but also post-wearing a few times so I’m afraid the lace pattern doesn’t show up quite as well. But it is always nice to know what something will look like after a few wearings too, right?
Ashley kindly let me borrow the scarf following our Tuesday lunch date (where oddly enough we happened to run into another SnB gal pal who was with her husband and long time friend so it became a bit of party) so I could photograph it to share with you guys since it was knit from my handspun that I gave her for Christmas.
I was very excited about that particular hank of handspun. It is soooo soft though the label gave no indication of what kind of wool or wool blend I was working with. On Monday night we all decided it has to contain some merino, but Lambspun usually labels their 100% merino as such so I’m thinking it must be a blend. I thought it was relatively even, though now in the knit form I see it wasn’t quite as consistent as I had thought. I’d say it has only a touch of rustic quality to it. Enough to keep it interesting, but definitely not enough to detract from the gorgeous lace knitting Ashley did.
Thank you Ashley for letting me share this with the rest of the world!
