Odds and ends

This week's blog post is going to be a bit of a mish-mash of things. Life is busy lately with finery goodness, and I'm combining all of that into one update for you.

FINISHED
First of all, last weekend I finished my Lowry Pullover, almost two whole weeks early! It took me about five weeks to knit this, and I think my strategy of doing the sleeves first really paid off in terms of speeding up the whole process.



My thoughts on the pattern:
--I don't normally make patterns exactly as written, but in this case I loved the pattern so much that I didn't modify anything. Weird for me, but a credit to the designer for such a fantastically shaped sweater.
--That said, if I ever make this again, I will need to modify the lower sleeves. For some reason they're uncomfortably tight on my forearms, which is not usually a place I have issues with fit. I think I would just start with the next size up, and do fewer increases.
--Sportweight yarn makes this sweater warm but not too warm, so I might be able to wear it more often here in Los Angeles (vs. some of my worsted or bulky weigh sweaters).

My thoughts on the yarn, Madelinetosh Pashmina in the Tart colorway:
--This yarn is deliciously soft, and is wonderful to wear against the skin. This is thanks to the merino and cashmere content, which unfortunately also means that the sweater is pilling already, and today is the first day I've worn the sweater.
--The color is an amazing semi-solid red, and I got very little pooling on the garment. However, there are no dye lots listed on the skeins, and I found very noticeable differences between skeins. I think I managed to arrange the transitions so if anyone notices it will look intentional, but just be aware of this if you're going to use this yarn.
--A sweater's quantity of this yarn is not cheap. I felt it was worth the investment, but this isn't going to work for all budgets. It's a wonderful indulgence, and I highly recommend at least trying one skein of this yarn for a smaller project.

VOGUE KNITTING LIVE


As some of you may know, Vogue Knitting LIVE! was here in L.A. for the weekend. I didn't have time to take classes all weekend, but I did manage to take two incredible classes, "Teaching Classes that Rock" with Trisha Malcolm, and "Photography for Knitters" with Amy Swenson (of Indigirl designing fame). Both classes were amazing, and hopefully I'll at least be able to take much better pictures for this blog in the future.

MY NEW IPAD
Because I have the most wonderful husband in the world, I now am the proud owner of a brand new iPad! He gave it to me as an early present for our upcoming fifth wedding anniversary, and despite some initial learning the hard way (like backing up before you update the iPad software) it's been awesome so far.

Anyway, I am looking for suggestions on fantastic iPad knitting apps, so please leave a comment if you have a favorite. And I apologize for the lack of links here, I'm still getting used to my iPad blogging app!

UPCOMING EVENTS
I will be attending SOAR in Manchester, New Hampshire during the first week of October. I'll be taking classes on how to spin sock yarn, how to handcard wool, and others. I'm really excited about this, and can't wait to get there!

Also, I will be at Rhinebeck in NY on the third weekend of October. This will be my first time ever attending, so I am prepared to be overwhelmed by all the fibery goodness.

In short, I've got a lot of great stuff coming up, and will be posting here on how it all goes.

Until next time, happy knitting and spinning to everyone. Enjoy the start of fall, and all the knitting goodness that comes with it!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

9/11 Memories: My Story

In memory of those lost

In honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 today, I'm going to forgo my usual knitting & spinning topics of discussion in favor of writing about my memories and experiences of the event.

Understand that I think this is terribly cliché, cause it seems like everyone else in the world has spent the past week writing and talking about their own experiences from 2001, and I hate to admit that I'm following the crowd on anything.  But I realize that I've already forgotten a lot of the details of that day, and it's only going to get worse as time goes on.  My hope is that, by finally writing down my personal 9/11 memories (or, at least, what I can still remember of it), I will be able to arrest the memory decay that naturally occurs with passing time.

In September 2001, I was an undergraduate student at Syracuse University in central New York State.  My now-husband and I had started dating in August that year, and he was spending the semester in the Catskills doing a co-op (like an internship program, but going to school in the summer and working full time during a semester).  We were a few weeks into the fall semester when the world changed forever.

On the morning of September 11th, I didn't have class until around 10 am, so sometime after 9 am I was getting ready for the day ahead.  I sat down with my oatmeal (peaches and cream flavor, I'm pretty sure) and wanted to watch a little bit of TV before I left for class, so I turned on the television and saw smoke pouring out of the Twin Towers.  Shock and disbelief were definitely the first things I felt--it really took a minute or two to register that this was even real.

I'm not sure what I expected class to be like that morning, but when I got there the professor had already made the decision to project TV news coverage on the screen and just let us watch, instead of trying to teach us something when we all would have been too distracted to learn anyway.  One of the girls in my class had a brother who worked at the World Trade Center, and when we saw the towers fall live on TV, she left the room in tears (turns out her brother was fine, but she didn't know that until later).  According to the university, about 10% of students were from the city, so there was obviously a lot of concern around campus for families and friends.

I remember trying to call my dad after class, and I was having issues getting through because the cell networks were too busy (presumably because everyone else in the state was trying to call people as well).  I finally got through and talked to Dad for awhile.  Even though none of my immediate family members were anywhere close to New York City, it still made me feel better to touch base and know that everyone was still okay.

My husband (then boyfriend) was working all day on a construction site, I think in Poughkeepskie, which is only an hour or two outside the city.  They were listening to the news on the radio all day, since they didn't have TV at the job site, and so he had a very different experience of it, not seeing the pictures until the end of the day.  I didn't talk to him until sometime in the evening that day, since he didn't have a cell phone back then.  It's obviously impossible to say how our relationship would have ended up without 9/11, but I really think it brought us closer and made us prioritize spending time together a bit more.  Since we're still happily together 10 years later, we must've done something right, with or without 9/11.

I've forgotten a lot of how I felt and what I did on that day, but in the weeks and months after I distinctly remember a sense of togetherness and patriotism all around (because nothing unites like a common enemy, right?).  People were nicer, more understanding, and less bothered by petty things.  This newfound unity didn't completely last in the long term, but I see hints of it this weekend, when we're all reminded of what happened 10 years ago.

On September 20th, 2001, the city of Syracuse held some kind of 9/11 remembrance event in Clinton Square.  The photo above is one I took at the event, where Syracuse firemen were paying tribute to their fallen comrades in New York City.  This picture was so poignant and personal to me, despite the fact that I don't personally know the people in the photo, that I actually had it hanging on my wall for several years.

And now, 10 years later, the 9/11-themed commercials on TV are making me want to cry, reminding me of the tragedy and loss, as well as  the heroism and sacrifice of that day.  The world is different today than it was on September 10th, 2001, to be sure.  But hope endures, and even though some of the personal details are fading, we will never forget what happened on 9/11 or what it means for America.

My flag pin, still with me after 10 years

Labor Day

For Labor Day weekend, Chris and I spent a few days up in Mammoth Lakes, where we usually ski in the winter.  Last March he lost one of his skis on the mountain, and we were hoping the snow would be melted enough to finally find it.

It was a beautiful morning on Saturday when we hiked up the mountain to where he though the ski might be (he had already searched a few months ago, but there was one area where the snow hadn't melted enough until now). No luck finding the ski, though, and we've given up the search.  It was a beautiful morning, though, and at least I got a couple of nice pictures (and a bug bite or two!):

 High hopes to start out the hike.

The "hole in the wall", that used to be covered in snow over the winter.

Searching for the ski.

The sky couldn't have been bluer, I swear.

No ski after all :(.

Mammoth is about a 5-hour drive each way, depending on traffic, which meant lots of knitting time for me this weekend.  I was a bit concerned about working on my Lowry Pullover in the car, since it requires actually looking at what I'm doing on the cable rows, and in the last several years I've really started getting nauseous when I read or stare at my knitting in the car.  So I got myself a set of Psi Bands to see if they would work (since I kind of hate Dramamine because it puts me to sleep), and surprisingly enough it really seemed to do the trick!  My yarn was even making happy swirls at me as I pulled it out of the skein:

Happy swirls of yarn.

I'm making really good progress on my sweater, having already finished the waist shaping.  Doing the sleeves first had the added benefit of getting me to memorize the cable chart, so I only have to count my rows so I can remember which one I'm on.  I might actually finish this sweater in time after all!

Done with waist shaping, almost ready to divide for the V-neck.

Also, while we were in Mammoth, we stopped by the Labor Day Festival of the Arts.  No pictures, unfortunately, despite all the fantastic handcrafted stuff, mostly because I felt it would be rude to take pictures of stuff I wasn't buying.  Oh, well, I'm still learning… 

Happy Labor Day to all, and I hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Progress!

I'm done with the sleeves for my Lowry Pullover!

 Completed sleeves :).

This is unbelievably exciting, since (as I've previously stated) sleeves are my nemesis.  I'm almost done with the ribbing for the body of the sweater, too, which means I might actually finish the sweater sometime this century.

 Body ribbing almost done.

Actually, my goal is to finish the sweater in time to wear to SOAR and Rhinebeck in October.  I've got about 5 weeks left, so there's a chance.  I'm really getting excited about SOAR (my 2nd time going), and Rhinebeck (my first time ever), and since SOAR is in New England this year it also means I get to see family.  I'll be posting more details in the future about what classes I'm taking and everything.

Lately, in addition to my fibery pursuits, I've been working on canning tomato sauce.  The tomatoes from our garden have been incredible, and every week I'm getting enough for another pint or three of sauce.  I'm definitely no expert on home canning (yet), but it's really doable with a little work and the right tools.  So enough blogging for today, I've got tomatoes calling to me:

These tomatoes need canning!

 And these ones, too.

 And some of these (especially the one in front!).

Organizing the Chaos

I've spent most of my weekend (and a few evenings last week, too) organizing my craft room.  Over the past several months it had become a total mess, since I spent more time just throwing things in there to keep them away from the cat than putting things away so they could be found later, and it was at the point where I could barely walk through.  I totally forgot to take the "before" picture, but imagine this with more stuff all over the floor:

 My (kind of) clean craft room.

And yes, I do realize that this looks like it could be the "before" picture.  It's still a work in progress, I promise :).

In the process of cleaning things up:

• I frogged several projects that I decided I would never finish (including my recently-abandoned Radian Yoke), and returned the yarn to my stash.  I think I have a few more that still need to be frogged, but I'm making progress.  I always feel like UFOs weigh me down, so it feels good to get rid of the ones that aren't ever going to get finished.

• I worked on de-stashing some of my yarn, and packed up a big box to send to my mom.  It also makes me feel better to get rid of yarn that I'm pretty sure I'll never use.

• I finally broke down and bought more plastic drawers from the Container Store.  I love these drawers for storing my yarn and fiber, since they keep the dust off my yarn but let in enough light to keep the bugs away (so far, at least!), and the drawers keep things stackable but still accessible.  It turns out that unspun fiber takes up a ton more space per ounce than yarn, so when I started acquiring a fiber stash a few years ago I quickly outgrew the drawers I already had, and I just now decided I should get more drawers rather than keeping fiber in cardboard boxes on the floor.

 My yarn/fiber storage solution.

• My cat stole several balls of yarn from my recently-frogged Radian Yoke and proceeded to chew through the yarn and, in general, make a mess of the yarn.  Again, no before pictures (I'll learn eventually!)… but I did spend an hour or two trying to untangle the yarn, tie it back together, and rewinding it into balls, all while trying not to cry too much over my cat kind of ruining my very nice (merino/silk/bamboo)  hand-dyed yarn.

• I located some projects I'd forgotten about, and wanted to immediately start working on them again, but restrained myself somehow.  I have discovered over the years that it's necessary for me to keep my WIPs in clear bags (with closures, so the cat doesn't steal them!) so I can see what project is in the bag, otherwise I completely forget about some things.  I relocated some WIPs to clear bags, in hopes of finishing them sooner rather than later.

I also found a few completed, or almost-completed, items that I know I will absolutely never wear/use, and I wouldn't dare give someone as a gift (think knitted bikini--don't ask!).  Any suggestions on what to do with these?

I still have a lot of organizing to go, including updating my Ravelry stash (that hasn't been updated in at least 2 years), but at least now I can move in my craft room!  Though all the organizing has been seriously cutting into my knitting time...

Stitch-n-Pitch, and a New Sweater

Every year I look forward to the annual Stitch-n-Pitch game at Dodger Stadium, and this year's game was last Friday.  My husband, Chris, and I went with the group from Wildfiber in Santa Monica.

 Dodgers welcoming Wildfiber.

We both enjoyed the yummy stadium junk food:

 Chris with a peanut.

 Me and my cotton candy on a stick.

And I got some knitting done on a pair of socks for myself:

 Look at my hands moving too fast for the camera!

The baseball game was not terribly exciting, unfortunately.  No one scored in the regular 9 innings, and since we came with the Wildfiber bus we didn't get to stay for the 10th inning (where the Dodgers finally scored a run against the Astros to win the game) or the Friday night fireworks.  But at least the knitting was fun, and I got some cool swag.

 Play ball!

In other knitting news, I've frogged my Radian Yoke.  I was really enjoying the pattern, and I liked the way it was knitting up, but I realized before I finished the yoke that I was definitely going to run out of yarn.  And since it was yarn that I hand-dyed myself, there's no way to get more (at least not yarn that matches!).  So the yarn is going back in my stash, and the pattern is going back in my queue.  Oh, well, it's better to know when to quit, I guess!

With days now getting shorter, I'm starting to feel fall coming on, and that means it's almost time to wear actual sweaters again (vs. the lightweight cardigans I wear all summer because everyone keeps their AC way too cold).  So the happy news is, now that I've put the Radian Yoke aside for the moment, I'm getting to start on a sweater that I think I will absolutely love to knit and wear. 

I fell in love with the Lowry Pullover as soon as I saw it in the latest Knitscene, and I've been kind of looking for yarn to make it from ever since, because my stash doesn’t currently include a sweater quantities of sportweight yarn.  And while I was at Wildfiber on Friday waiting for the bus to the game, I managed to also fall in love with the perfect yarn for this sweater: Madelinetosh Pashmina, in the Tart colorway, a gorgeous deep red.  The yarn is not cheap, but it's so wonderful I couldn't resist (and for the number of hours I'll spend knitting the sweater, and the number of times I expect to wear it, it's worth it)--I actually walked around the yarn store hugging the yarn like a teddy bear before I bought it, it's that scrumptious.  Pashmina is a blend of superwash merino, silk and cashmere, and it's unbelievably soft, and machine washable to boot.  It's also plump and squishy, and is going to show off the cables of the sweater really nicely.

I'm starting this sweater from the sleeves.  Sleeves are my nemesis, because I usually knit the whole body of the sweater and then get stuck finishing the sleeves; I'm hoping that doing the sleeves first will solve this problem for me.  We'll see how that goes.  For now, I'm almost done with the ribbing of the sleeves, and I'm expecting to start the cable pattern this afternoon:

 Sleeve cuffs in progress.

Baby Hats!

I'm going to the LA Dodgers Stitch-n-Pitch game in just under 2 weeks, and I recently found out that Stitches from the Heart will be accepting donations at the game.  So I'm taking a break from focusing on my own knitted tops, and I designed a super-cute, super easy baby hat using leftover sock yarn.  Here's the pattern:

You will need:

• About 20 grams (something around 80 yards) of sock yarn

• Size 3 knitting needles, either DPNs or a long circular for Magic Loop

Gauge is not really critical for this project.  As long as you're comfortable with the fabric you're getting, just go with it (otherwise go up or down a needle size or two until you like it).

Instructions:

CO 3 sts.

Knit I-cord for about 2 1/2 inches.

Rnd 1: Kf&b around (6 sts).

Rnd 2, and all even rounds: K around.

Rnd 3: K1, M1 around (12 sts).

Rnd 5: K2, M1 around (18 sts).

Rnd 7: K3, M1 around (24 sts).

Continue in this manner, increasing 6 sts every other row, until your knitted circle is approximately 5 inches in diameter.  I usually end up with something between 80 and 90 total stitches around.

Knit even until the hat measures approximately 6 1/2 inches, not counting the I-cord.  Bind off loosely, weave in your ends, and tie the I-cord in a knot for extra cuteness.

My favorite thing about knitting hats top-down is that you don't need a gauge swatch, and my second favorite thing is that you can pretty much knit until you run out of yarn, as long as the length is close enough.

Some easy variations on this pattern, if you like:

• You can use pretty much any weight yarn you'd like.  Just pick needles that work with the yarn, and stop increases when your circle is big enough.
• If you don't like the rolled brim, you can change it to a ribbed brim pretty easily: when the hat measures between 4 1/2 and 5 inches, start your rib pattern (1x1 or 2x2, or any rib pattern you'd like), and work for about an inch before binding off.  Or feel free to use a different pattern for the brim.

Now back to making more baby hats from my leftover sock yarn!

Word of the Day: Focus

So… week 3 of my Tour de Fleece spinning?  Epic fail (or epic failure, if you want to be a bit more grammatically correct)!  I got absolutely NO spinning done, cause I just wasn't feeling it.  Oh, well, there's always next year, right?

On the plus side, I did do some knitting.  I finished knitting my Kiama, and just need to sew in the ends and block it (pictures to be posted soon!).

Since I finished knitting one major project, I got to start on another top I've been dying to make: the Radian Yoke top from Knitscene.  I'm making this in a yarn I dyed myself awhile back, and so far the pattern is fun and not too difficult:

 Radian Yoke in progress.

I've been trying really hard this year to focus a little bit more on my sweaters, so I can actually finish something to wear once in awhile.  It's kind of working :).  And I'm still allowed to knit socks, too, cause sweaters are too big to carry in my purse.

Also, I had to take a little time away from my major project knitting to make up another Quant (I made one a year or two ago but gave it away for Christmas).  Some of my knitting coworkers want to learn entrelac, and as the resident knitting expert I get to teach it!  I made this one in a gorgeous red semisolid in Manos Maxima. 

 Quant in Manos Maxima.

I love the way the colors turned out, but the semisolid colorway definitely isn't as impressive in entrelac as something with a longer repeat would be.  Now I kind of want to spin something to knit more entrelac in a more appropriate colorway… but I would also like to wear my Radian Yoke before the weather gets too cold, so I will attempt to focus.

Tour de Fleece Week 2 Update

Now we're two weeks into Tour de Fleece 2011, and I've made a bit more progress on my spinning (though still not as much as I had hoped, thanks to the current state of my kitchen).  This week I spun up some superwash merino from Susan's Kitchen in the Water Depths colorway.

 Unspun fiber (very pretty!).

I think I bought this fiber at WeFF in 2009, but I didn't write it down so I don't remember for sure (note to self: write things like this down in the future!).  The blues were so pretty I couldn’t resist.  The colors marled in a really lovely way in the singles:

 Singles on the bobbin.

 A better view of marling in the singles.

I tried not predrafting or splitting this fiber at all, and instead I attempted to spin "across the web", if that's the right term.  This was a bit challenging for me, and I probably should have gone down a ratio or two to compensate for my slower drafting.  When I plied the yarn, it ended up nicely squishy and springy, even though I think I overspun it a bit.

 Plied yarn on the bobbin.

 Plied yarn in the skein.

The yarn ended up a heavy worsted weight-ish, and is closer in WPI to what I consider to be my default yarn.  I'm not quite sure what I want to make with it yet, but it does look like good hat yarn.

The Yarny Details

Wheel:	Spinolution Hopper
Spinning Ratio:	6.25
Singles WPI:	22-24
Draw:	Short, mostly worsted
Plying Ratio:	4.25
Finished plies:	2
Plied WPI:	6-8
Weight:	~4 oz.
Approx. Yardage:	118

I also started spinning some SW merino/Seacell/Banana fiber mix.

 Unspun fiber (love how the Seacell and banana didn't take the dye).

This fiber is taking a bit longer cause I'm spinning the singles pretty fine (for me), but I predrafted the fiber (without splitting it at all) so it's spinning really nicely.

 Beginning of a bobbin of singles.

And in other news, I have been getting some knitting done this past week.  I'm working on Kiama, a pattern I fell in love with because it looks incredibly flattering on everyone, and I always need more layering pieces for wearing to work because the air conditioning is always a bit chilly in my office.

 My Kiama in progress.

I'm using some yarn that's been in my stash for quite awhile.  It's Twist, a cotton/acrylic/rayon/nylon blend from Knit Picks, though I believe the yarn has been discontinued.  I've been working on this sweater for about 3 weeks now, and I'm making really great progress.  Hopefully I can finish this up soon so I can wear it this summer!

Until next week, happy knitting (and spinning) :)!

Tour de Fleece Week 1 Update

We're one week into Tour de Fleece 2011, and I have made some moderate progress on my goals:

• To spin every day
• And to use up some of my fiber stash

I swear, though, I have a good excuse:

Before photo (that's vinyl pretending to be wood!).

After photo (before putting baseboards & appliances back).

We tiled our laundry room and kitchen floor (by ourselves) over the July 4th weekend, and we've been finishing it up over the past week.  Hopefully I'll finally have a stove back later today!

But even though kitchen remodeling has been severely cutting into my spinning time, I've managed to finish up some Targhee top that I started spinning a month or so ago:

Singles on the bobbin.

Plied yarn on the bobbin.

Plied skein, before finishing.

The top is from Mountain Colors in the "Northern Lights" colorway, which I bought from The Loopy Ewe way back in July 2008, when I first started spinning.  I wasn't very good at drafting back then, so I used to split up my rovings into relatively thin strips and predraft them to death.  I apparently had intended to start spinning this Targhee awhile back, cause it was already split into strips.  Without the splitting I could have made the colors more distinct, but I actually love the way the colors barberpoled in the final yarn.

I really can't believe I let this fiber sit around for so long before I started spinning it, cause it turns out that Targhee is really yummy--it's really soft, crimpy, and has a long enough staple that it's easy to spin.  Bluefaced Leicester has, since I first started spinning, been my absolute favorite, but I think Targhee is now a close second (but not as readily available as BFL).

The finished yarn is squishy and soft and will make some kind of great winter accessory.  I'm getting better at spinning somewhat finer yarns (vs. my default yarn, which is usually a heavy worsted-ish), so the finished yarn is approximately sport weight. I'm thinking of making the Honey Cowl, with some possible adjustments to make sure I get close enough to gauge (given that the pattern calls for DK weight).  I'll have to wait until the yarn is actually dry to swatch and see if it looks as good as I hope!

The Yarny Details

Wheel:	Spinolution Hopper
Spinning Ratio:	6.5
Singles WPI:	~28
Draw:	Short, semi-worsted
Plying Ratio:	4.25
Finished plies:	2
Plied WPI:	~12 (sport weight)
Weight:	~4 oz.
Approx. Yardage:	408 yds.