Goodies!

*Finally* Amanda and I got to see each other. With travel for SOAR and the holidays and my getting sick two weeks ago we hadn’t seen each other since the night before she left for SOAR in early November. She brought me back goodies too!

On the left is Socks that Rock (yes, I’m finally part of the cool kids with just the right yarn, LOL!) in Iolite. This was a fortunate thing for me, as Amanda and Margene’s yarn choices for Snow overlapped and this was a doubled colorway so I was given the option to give it a home in my stash. And, as luck would have it these should blend wonderfully into my wardrobe once they grow up into socks! Wheeeee! Thank you!

Now that I went and looked at their colorways I have several others I’m coveting. Jewel of the Nile, Pebbles, Sandstone, Jade, Flourite, Cobalt Bloom… *sigh*

Then, the packet on the right has had me drooling since about 6:10pm last night… It’s a sampler of silk hankies from Treenway Silks. The colors are great and I *loved* spinning the silk from the bell in the spinning class in August. I can’t wait to play with this and then dream up something to do with it once it is spun.

Last night was also the first night this month that both Snow and I made it on the same night. Miraculously the universe has not started spiralling inward towards a black hole (at least not that I’ve heard so far). Yeah! It was kind of nice having just the hard core regulars there last night. Ashley’s fair isle cardigan is going to be gorgeous! She’s on a sleeve so it won’t be too much longer! And Linsey is getting close to starting sleeves on her gorgous orange Manos sweater for her hubby. *swoon*

I have progress to report on Grandma’s Albert Seaman Scarf, but that shall wait until tomorrow. I’m trying really hard to not cast on for the second Mitten from Halland, but I’m guessing I’ll cave before Saturday. While I’m making good progress on Grandma’s scarf, because it is mohair and it’s hard to see stitches clearly it just isn’t a visiting sort of project and I shall need a visiting project for the knitting tea. While I would love to report a finished scarf before Saturday I just don’t see it happening amongst work and preparations for the tea. That said, I’m coming into the home stretch enough I don’t think I’ll be in danger of casting aside the scarf in favor of exclusive knitting on the mitten. Wish me luck!

Come to the Bayou…

Yep, more dyeing today. I promise at least one non-dyeing post this week, probably two, so if you aren’t into dyeing hold tight, okay? For those of you interested in dyeing, want a closer look?

This one took a lot of piddling, but I think it will be worth it when I have a pair of completed socks. Casting on for those will have to wait for some time yet. If you look at the yarn in another form, it might be clearer what is going on in this yarn…

If you look at the image on the right there you might notice that it is mostly that brown-green at the bottom of the photo, but as you move up the photo the yarn becomes mostly aqua and cream with just touches of the brown-green. Well, I wanted to be able to have as close to matching socks as possible. So, I took the original hank of yarn and wound it into a center pull ball. Then, I took that center pull ball and wound it into a double thickness center pull ball. This essentially split the skein into two equal half skeins, but they are in a center pull ball still. Then, I soaked the ball in water and vinegar overnight wanting to make sure it got all the way to the center of the ball. I dyed it with Wilton’s Moss Green. So, the outside of the ball took up the color nearly evenly, but then it broke and took up less dye the farther into the ball you go. When the bath was exhausted I rinsed the ball a couple times and then pressed as much water out of it as possible and hanked it so I could rinse it better and so it could dry better. Then, I took that hank and split it back into single strands, but made two different balls (one hand made and one on the ball winder so I could untwist the strands without too much trouble). This seperation of the doubled yarn into single again was a looooong progress. I watched most of Say Anything while doing it.

That said, I think the work was worth it. The socks should have a semi-ombre look, but with varigation going from mostly the brown-green with more and more spots of aqua and cream showing up. I’m calling it Bayou. In showing it off at SnB and talking with Ashley last night I think it might be a great excuse to try my hand at toe-up socks so I can get the green at the toe and get lighter and lighter yarn as I go up the leg. But, as I mentioned before, it’ll be a while.

I have one more hank to dye (for now, LOL!) and I’m thinking I may repeat this process with the Wilton’s black as I understand that one breaks into some really fun colors.

I *did* finally get to SnB last night. I’ve not been doing well at being there this month. And, it seems the universe is in trouble should Snow and I both get to the same SnB gathering this month. I guess next Monday is her turn. Last night was just three of us long time die hards, but it was kind of a nice break, though I did definitely miss Snow and Amanda as I haven’t seen them since very early in the month. But, now that I actually got to go to SnB I feel like my week is sooooo much better than the past week’s when I haven’t made it. It’s probably a lot about getting out of the house and having non-writing centered conversations. Oh, but I’m soooo much happier today than this time last week! Thanks guys!

Knitting Tea

Art2 - Knitting Tea,
originally uploaded by kurki15.

I was about 6 and staying with grandmother in town while my mom went to yet another doctor appointment for her rapidly deteriorating vision that remained at the time. A friend of my grandmother’s from her church was having a garage sale. I was enthralled with the six tea cups and saucers and their matching 8 or 9 squared plates. I just loved the sketch-like quality of the floral design and how it looked as though each cup had been hand watercolored in certain spots, but the sketch allowed to remain pure in areas.

As I grew older and became a rabid fan of Anne of Green Gables I was quite enamored with “fine china” and “raspberry cordial” and afternoon teas complete with white gloves and cakes and finger sandwiches. However, my mom was more of a mug sort of person. Even her wedding china was sturdy and classic, but not elegant or feminine. Fluted edges and floral patterns were just not her style. So, I secretly lusted after such things.

Imagine my surprise when twenty years after admiring that incomplete, yet respectable in number, set of china to be opening a box that my grandparents hand delivered to Colorado from Minnesota as part of our wedding gift! It was a lovely surprise and a forgotten memory so was really two surprises in one.

I love that set and DH loves having formal teas, though he much prefers his plain white dinnerware or his manly Denby cups when we take tea. The floral pattern is a bit too much for him. So, these long loved china cups and saucers and little plates sit in my hutch gathering dust. Well, I decided it was time to blow off that dust and use them. Well, actually I’ll hand wash them lovingly before using them.

So, enter the idea of an old fashioned afternoon tea with dainty little cookies, scones (perhaps crumpets if I’m feeling lucky) with homemade rose hip jelly and lemon curd, watercress sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, and a selection of fine teas to choose from. All the while, surrounded by the trimmings of the holiday season! Thus the idea of what I hope will become an annual gathering of the SnB gals enjoying food, fellowship, and fibery fun during the rush of the holiday season.

Once I had the idea I had to come up with invitations that fit with the festivities. I wanted to get the invites out early before people’s holiday calendars got too full. Since they were going out early I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone with the nearness of the holiday season by making the invites too holiday-like. Then, the idea came to me. I could make them an invitation and a gift in one! I could them all fine art prints with the theme of tea and knitting!

I went with the cliche of knitting tea and etched a drypoint plate of my favorite girly china tea cup and saucer with a small hank of hand spun yarn and single knitting needle. I wanted to capture the true look of the floral pattern and wanted some color on the invites so I opted to make prints that must pass through the press twice. So, first the papers were passed through the press with a monotype plate. This is a flat plate to which color has been laid down like a painting, but in mirror. It’s a planographic printing process. Each printing you must repaint the plate. This results in only one print, hence the “mono” in the name. You can make similar prints, but they are each unique. So the color was laid down using them monotype process. Next was to add the details. This was done with a drypoint plate in which the design was manually scratched, then the plate is inked fully and the ink removed from the surface so it is only in the scratched lines. Then the monotype printed paper and the inked drypoint plate took a second pass through the press. The drypoint printing is an intaglio process.

Due to the strenuous inking process and the material required to be able to hand scratch the plate, drypoint plates usually can only produce about 20 prints. The plate degrades with each pass so beyond 20 the prints just are of satisfactory quality. If less then 20 prints are pulled from a plate, the plate is destroyed by marking a line through the design so that no further prints can be made.

So, the invites were delivered last Monday evening and everyone received theirs. I figure now I can show you all.

I was able to pull 8 prints from these plates. I needed 6 for the invites and have two remaining. That is only 2 prints from a small run of prints that are available to the general public. The 6th print of the run is currently available on Ebay, along with another limted edition print that celebrates autumn.

Autumnal Splendor

If it weren’t for the shorter daylight, I think I would be quite happy if it were autum year around. The weather over the weekend has been absolutely gorgeous! Day time highs in the mid to upper 70’s but cooling of quite nicely in the evenings so I can start pulling sweaters and jackets out of storage. Of course I always love the colors as well. Though the colors in Colorado are a bit pale in comparison to back home (and even more so to New England as I understand it though I’ve never been). But, there are pockets of intense colors in town where people have planted dramatic trees and shrubs. In the photo above is the Japense Maple (or so we were told by the people we bought the house from) that resides in our front yard just to the west of the driveway. The last two years some of the leaves have turned a very deep burgandy which has added a depth to the tree that makes me think of the ears of Indian corn that used to adorn the doors of my elementary school classrooms. There are some really pretty colors in this tree though…

Our neighbors also have this gorgeous tree in their side yard. I should have taken the time to phorograph it a couple of days ago, but it is still striking against the bright blue Colorado sky…

Lastly, it is once again SnB night! Thank goddess! If it weren’t for SnB, I’m not sure if I would make it though Mondays… *sigh*

As I did last week, I’ll be sporting my fun new polka-dot knitting bag…

It was a custom order from Jacqui of My Escape From the Boys. It has only one zipper, well away from yarn, a sock pocket that fits a SIP seperate from another good sized knitting project and it’s tall enough for full size knitting books as well. I currently have only the Alberta scarf for Grandma in there and Handknit Holidays but there is plenty of room for a sweater project, even an ample sized one.

So, as I’m sure most everyone realized, last Monday was a holiday here. That meant no Stitch ‘n Bitch last Monday night. Boy, have I missed it! Not that I have a whole lot to show off, but I’ve missed hearing what everyone has been up to.

Sure, I know Snow finished her shaped triangle and is working on several other lace shawls at the moment. But, she is the only other blogger from our SnB group. And, as wonderful as it is to see pictures people’s FOs it just isn’t the same as getting to see them in person and see them modeled or getting to fondle them. Just admit it!

So, I’m very much looking forward to this evening. For one, it’ll be my last SnB until August 8th! I’ll be getting ready to board my plane to Minneapolis when everyone else is gather next week. I suppose I’ll be so busy at home and showing off my stuff to grandma B that I won’t miss it so much. But I know I’ll be more than ready to see everyone again when I get back. I’ll want to know what Amanda has been spinning and what sweater design Ashley is working and to see Snow’s gorgeous lace and the progress Kerrilyn’s fun lace scarf or perhaps she’ll be working on another pair of socks?? And then of course Linsey’s sweater.

I’m so glad I persevered for that month or so of sitting at Mug’s and knitting by myself hoping other people would eventually show up! It was sooo worth it for this great group of lifelong friends I have made. And, moving it to Catalyst on Amanda’s suggestion was great as well. A nicer, friendlier coffee shop I haven’t been in! In fact I know go there one or two other days out the week as well and have been known to stop in on a weekend if we eat at the neighboring restaurant for brunch.

I suppose that is enough sap for one Monday, huh? Well, with the amazing heat this weekend, we spent a lot of time watch TV series on DVD. In fact, I’m so embarassed by the number of episodes of X-Files and Firefly we watched yesterday that I won’t give out the number, LOL! However, it did bring to my attention my lack of easy knitting. I’m working on a sock design that I don’t find difficult, but every fourth row is a bit difficult to execute in the dark and then there is the shaped triangle. And, while I suspect at some point I’ll be able to comfortably execute this central portion in the dark while watching TV I’m not there yet. DH definitely prefers watching in the dark as our TV really gets glare easy, but it was also cooler to keep lights off. We’ve been staying up until 1am or even later to let the bedroom cool off to 78 degrees and for us to get so tired that the heat can’t even keep us up. So, I’m exhausted and don’t have more than an additional 12 rows or so done on the Koigu sock (which I’m thinking will henceforth be called Flatirons socks since I bought the yarn in Boulder and the stitch pattern makes me think of them).

I will be seeking a reprieve at Catalyst early. I’ll probably head over there right after Emma gets her mid-day meal and bring my lap top and do some design work I have in the queue right now before SnB.

Knitting Stew…

I was hoping to have some great modeled photos of an FO for you all, but it is taking *forever* to dry! So, hopefully a picture-filled post tomorrow or Wednesday.

I’m thinking it’s about time to take Skyway out of her timeout beneath the bed. I think it has become very evident that I’m not a “finisher.” Not that I won’t finish Skyway, but more that I don’t enjoy the process of finishing a garment, which causes me to procrastinate for an unacceptable amount of time. By the time I finish it, it will be too big (down 15 pounds and three inches on the hips) and too hot to wear (even though it is sleeveless, it is fairly heavy with the cotton content).

In spinning news, I *think* I’ve made a decision on the spinning wheel. I visited the library this weekend and am reading a few books.

My decision is mostly driven by economics, as there are other wheels I think I might rather have. I don’t doubt DH would spend an additional $200-$400 over what he was originally thinking it was going to cost when he told me a wheel would be my birthday present. However, this last month has been one of lots of expenses. We did a ton of home improvement/cosmetic things to the house to prepare for his parents’ visit before Memorial and we finally purchased a gas grill. Then, we have some sprinkler repair and house painting coming up and would like to also get our patio put in. There is also the issue that our inner spring futon mattress is really not working for either of us anymore and we think we will be graduating to a real mattress. Well, if I spend an additional $300 on a spinning wheel that could mean we need to wait until late fall to get a new mattress, which might actually cause the end of our marriage as we both are getting increasingly crabby from a lack of quality sleep…

I need to do a little more “research” before I make the official announcement on what my decision is and I won’t get to that until at least Wednesday, if not Thursday, so stay tuned! In the meantime, please share with me your favorite spinning blogs to read or let me know if you also blog about spinning on your knitting blog.

Last, but definitely not least - Stitch ‘n Bitch tonight at Catalyst Coffee for those in the area. 6-8pm!

*Sigh*

Well, I still haven’t gathered up the good mood and courage it requires to work on the finishing of Skyway Scoop yet. I *may* get there today, hopefully I’ll have a little done before SnB tonight. But, I do have other work that needs doing as well.

It seems like to give uncooperative projects a nice *looooong* time out under the bed. Yes, I don’t even put them in the corner. I stuff them into their bag and stash them under the bed, where they are out of site and hopefully mostly out of mind, LOL!

And, a reminder that tonight is Stitch ‘n Bitch!

The Home Stretch!

I am nearing the home stretch! I had the official first “try on” of Skyway Scoop at SnB last night. Everyone said the shaping was great and that the back looked nice too!

It did, however, take all of my self-discipline to not stay up all night doing the finishing around the neck and arms. I’ve spent some quality time this morning with some of my books that include finishing discussions to find it not terribly helpful. I was sort of expecting that. I already have two ideas in mind and I’ll start with the first one that I most want to use and hopefully it will work. Sometimes I like to “research” things to death. It would be *really* awesome if I completed it today, blocked it tonight and could wear it to Textiles a Mano tomorrow afternoon/evening!

I have two people locally willing to test knit it and model it for the official pattern. So I just need to extrapolate the additional sizes and get the schematic into electronic format etc. and get one or both of them test knitting soon.

In other news, Ashley, one of the first few to come to SnB regularly left us for three weeks to go play and steek in Denmark (okay, so she was over there for work, but with all the goodies she showed us last night from her adorable steeked infant cardigan to the stash expansion stuff she’s not fooling me ) was back finally! Oh how we missed her! Me, especially as we tend to also get together on the weekends sometimes as well and my weekends were void of knitting buddies while she was gone… However, she made up for her absence by bringing me a birthday present from Denmark . . .

Colinette Mohair, color 26, Turquoise

What gorgeous, rich color! I’m open to project suggestions on this one (except the scarf in Scarf Style in the feather and fan stitch pattern, I’m sick of that stitch pattern - call me fickle). It seems my mohair stash will soon rival that of my cotton stash unless I get knitting. Unless of course I fall prey to KnitPicks new yarns they’ve been releasing lately…

No Knitting Last Night!

We really, really took our time at dinner last night. It was a blast and the food was pretty good, if a bit on the expensive side and slightly “unbalanced” as a meal. We were at the restaurant for over two hours, LOL! So, we made it to Woolen Treasures only a tad before they closed. I was good and only bought a gift. I resisted the urge to buy some Berroco Softwist or Berroco Denim Silk or Butterfly 10 for another shell. And, I barely looked at the sock yarn! Go me! LOL!

All that crazy fun last night means I don’t have much to say today. Three rounds and I start the armholes. So, hopefully I’ll have a full back side done by Monday. Though I know we are going to a play on Saturday evening and I don’t know what else is on the schedule for the weekend… There is a slight chance that I might get to learn a bit about wheel spinning on Saturday… maybe…

Progress!

I was a faithful knitter this weekend worked pretty exclusively on the tank top/shell design. I’m half-way through the straight section of the waist and will soon begin the increases. That’s about half-way to the arm hole shaping! And, I have a little over 1/2 of the first ball of yarn left so I will definitely have enough yarn

One of the lakes near the house I grew up in was called Wagonga (though for most of my life it seemed most people pronounced it as Waconda ????). I’m contemplating that name. Thoughts?

I did take a little bit of time this weekend to frog and re-do the first 15 rows of Shaped Triangle. But, I suspect it’ll be mostly on the back burner until I wrap up this tank/shell design project.

Once again, it’s SnB night! If you are in the area, please join us at Catalyst Coffee from 6-8pm.