This and That

Since my last post, life has been so blissfully quiet that I’ve more or less hibernated from the heat and humidity. My needles, keyboard and spinning wheel have seen the only action (I’ve forgotten what the Kirby is for). Oh, I did take a trip to Jacksonville on Saturday. Did I ever mention I live in NE Florida? No! Well, I live an hour from “anywhere” up among the lakes, pine forests and fern hammocks. So going to the east coast or going to town means a “day out”. I would not have stirred myself even on Saturday had it not been the day for the River City Knitting Guild meeting, just couldn’t miss that!

So the run down on my exploits at home are…

One started and finished Poncho (the first of several Christmas gifts I’ve plans to make). Photo coming soon.

More work on TKGA Level-2 Vest …..not going well, due mostly because I can’t stop myself from tweaking the pattern and starting over. I'm also a glutton for punishment!

And talking of tweaking brings me to the massive amount of time at the keyboard. I have been trying to implant the code supplied by two different Web Rings into this blog. Both, no matter where I place them, manage to enlarge the size of my font for the whole blog. So until I become more html savvy the Rings will have to wait.

I also spun about 6 more ounces of the 11 British breeds. So far these 4 ounce samples have taught me that unless I go to live in the frozen north I’ll never need to buy the Black Welsh or Marsham breeds or blends. For me they are definitely outer-wear only wools and very coarse. The Manx Loughton, Massam and Shetland Moorit are also too coarse for “next to skin wear” as are Cotswold and Wensleydale, the latter two feel and spin more like mohair (not Kid) as they have very little crimp. The Wensleydale can be spun ultra fine and smooth, I liked the look of it but don’t know if I’d like it knitted, it may be very nice for weavering. On the other hand all three (Lt. Grey, Dk. Grey and White) Blue Faced Leicester samples are scrumptious, as is the White Shetland. All the breeds were easy to spin, due I’m sure to the superb processing job HaltWhistle Fibres had done….no VM and combed beautifully.

Please temper my remarks about these Breeds as they reflect the fact I live in Florida, have only been spinning for about 18 months and do not weave. So take all this for what it is worth as to your needs and preferences and remember this was my first experience with these breeds. I’d like to know your thoughts about them and whether my lack of experience might not have done some of them an injustice.

Back to the "Real World"
Due to "Hurricane Frances", who right now appears to be coming for a visit and because we’ll most likely have many of her alphabet family follow after her. I’m going to make some permanent changes around the house. Our stored treasures (mostly old photo’s) are going get unearthed and placed in stronger waterproof containers. This could take more than a day, since I’ll no doubt dwell and reminisce over every single treasure.

TaDa....Flower Basket Shawl Debut.

Don't you just love it? I do!

Sarah, you can now put a check next to my name as having finished the...

KnitAlong

I must admit that the pattern and my brain didn't start to connect until the last couple of repeats. My feeling is now that I should do another while it's fresh in my mind. The next one will have more repeats though...or maybe I should just go up a size in needle...hmmm?

Also, I would have liked a "more finished" look to the top edge...any idea's of how to achieve that?

"Purly-Gurly Shawl"
(see examples in the two previous posts)

By Elayne Pryor

http://imagiknit.blogspot.com

This pattern is FREE and I’m happy for it to be copied and shared.

Please do not sell it or remove my name.
"All rights reserved".

The pattern goes like this…*YO, P2tog* repeat!
Easy huh!

This stitch pattern is often called "Purse Stitch".

Suggestions...You can use any yarn you choose. I have found that if the yarn is mohair or very fluffy you should use the size needles suggested for that yarn. However, if the yarn is smooth, regardless of weight you should drop the needle size by at least three sizes. I made one from ribbon yarn and it turned out fabulous on needles four sizes smaller.

Tips…To start a row with a YO you must hold the yarn in the right hand and above the RH needle then rotate the RH needle from the back to the front over the top of the yarn then under the yarn to the back. You should now have two loops across the needle pointing like this //. This locks the YO. If you prefer you can start each row with K1 as the edge st but remember to figure it into the pattern.

Every row will start with a YO.

Note 1…When instructed to “Purl 2 together (P2tog)” you will be purling together the next stitch and the following loop made from the YO from the previous row in that order. Always!
This should keep you straight.

Instructions…and set up pattern for “V” Shawl.
CO 3 sts.

Row A. P3

Row B. YO, P1, YO, P1, YO, P1. (6 loops on needle)
PatternRow 1. *YO, P2tog*, (see Note 1) rep to end.

Row 2. (This is the increase row, You will be working into the back and then the front of the first st.) YO, then P through the back of the first stitch (from left to right)...2 new stitches made. YO, then P through the front of that same stitch and following loop (P2tog). You should now have four loops on RH ndl. Complete the rest of the row with repeats of “YO. P2tog” to end.

Row 3. Repeat row 2

Row 4. Repeat row 1.

Repeat Rows 1 thru’ 4 until the shawl is long enough.

Bind off loosely and then crochet crab stitch back across those bound off stitches.

Should you want to make a scarf using this pattern then loosely CO any number of even stitches and repeat Row 1.
Questions?.....just ask...always happy to help.

Good luck.

Shimmer Shawl

Knitted solely while traveling and finally finishing the tassles at home. The Hayfield Shimmer (discontinued in 1995 much to my dismay) was/still is one of my most favorite yarns. It feels better than silk and loves the dryer (my style of ratings). I'm sadly coming to an end of my huge stash of this yarn though, it's probably time to search eBay.

I used the same Purled pattern as the Cha Cha Shawl but increasing on only 2 out of every 4 rows. If you are interested in trying this pattern I'll happily share it.

Cha Cha Shawl

This is my "Three Day Wonder Shawl". I busied myself with this while I allowed my brain and emotions to take a rest. As it's a fairly mindless pattern that I've used several times I didn't have to think about what I was doing but I did need to keep a watchful eye on the stitches, this yarn can be devilish to work with.

It was knit with some (maybe 7 skeins) recycled Patons Cha Cha using my favorite Purled pattern stitch.

Flower Basket is almost full

The Flower Basket Shawl is blooming. It just needs 2 more repeats of the pattern and then the edging....perhaps I'll have it done tomorrow. Must admit this lace knitting is growing on me :)

I have also finished off two other shawls and will post pictures of those later.

Coming up for air...

The past few days have been rather hectic.

Thursday I heard that my Dad had passed peacefully into Gods hands. The finality rocked my world although we had expected it would be soon. Simply put...no man was more loving or loved, nor was one more kind.

Friday the 13th brought Hurricane Charley, followed by all the havoc and disruption. At one point we were directly in his crosshairs, but fortunately for us his path of distruction slid further to the east and our home was spared. We had spent the night far enough away from harm and watched the news coverage until the wee hours of the morning. I'd taken my knitting which at least kept my fingers busy, in fact I have almost finished a shawl in the last three days. No, not the Flower Basket one, just a mindless fun one using Patons Cha Cha. The yarn is so soft and comforting, it served it's purpose well.

Now it's Monday and normality is returning, my best wishes go to all who were less fortunate through the storms.

Flower Basket Shawl.

Well, I rose to the challenge (self-inflicted). This is my progress so far after signing up with Sarah's knitalong at KnitOneSpinToo . The Upper pattern is complete (after completely frogging three times). You can see the blue "lifeline" that separates it from the Lower pattern which involves repeats of the same ten rows. The first of the ten row repeats are finished (after frogging twice). By the time I've repeated them seven more times I should have it all figured out...so I'm likely to keep on going and it will end up huge.

It has been 12 long years since I knitted anything really lacy and that was a shawl for the birth of my grand daughter Sydney. I'm now reminded as to why it has been that long. There is something about lace that doesn't easily compute, and it never did....I don't understand why.

The pattern is from the fall issue of Interweave Knits and the yarn is 100% Alpaca and the perfect weight for this shawl using a single strand (the pattern called for two strands of a fine lace weight). The yarn came from the Bovidae Farm at Mars Hill NC. (828-689-9931) This was purchased last year....$20. for 8oz. Excellent value and oh, so soft!

www.magknits.com

While taking a break from spinning I followed blog link after blog link....I've no idea how I got to this but so glad I did.
I'm not sure how long this online knitters magazine has been around but I believe it is rather new. For my 2 cents I think it is great...free patterns and oh so much more...don't miss it.

www.magknits.com

11 British Breeds of Wool

This is my most abitious project lately.

First the process of spinning all the breeds, regardless of softness or courseness, so that they knit up to the same gauge.......

......then to design a vest or cardigan to showcase the different breeds.

Suggestions are very welcome with this as it's still vague in my mind. Somehow I'd like to have sheep in the design dressed of course in their own coats.

"Who said this was easy"?

There just has to be an easier way of doing this blogging thingy!!!!

I don't know just how you other fabulous "bloggers" are doing it......but I'll be durned if I'm getting "IT". "BUT I'M NOT GIVING UP"!!!! I want to do all the little hot links and such but right now I'll be happy to get the picture and my text formatted into the same post. Thank you Carolyn for all your assistance....it's the pupil that is failing not the teacher. If I could get this blog even half as good as yours (The Plump Ewe) I would be thrilled.

In the meantime I'm ready to start the Basket Shawl Knitalong with Sarah...from the "Knit One Spin Too" blog. I picked up the Fall issue of Interweave Knits yesterday just for this purpose. I hadn't purchased it when I first looked at last week as I didn't think it was even close their normal standard of publications.

The vest for the TKGA Master Knit Program is FINISHED! (photo to follow later...hopefully) I'm reasonably happy with it but no telling how the judge will feel. I just need to do the write up and then I can get back to the rest of the swatches....and the dreaded essay on "The History of Knitting".

Steek to you all later :)

"Green Man" (back)

"Green Man" (front)

green man front Originally uploaded by KnitWise.

"Green Man" (details)

The “Green Man” cardigan was finished couple of weeks ago. Since it was the object of a KnitAlong that I’d instigated I thought I should show it off to help Kathy and Cindy get theirs finished.

The design is called the "Green Man" and is taken from the gargoyles in churches and such in Western Europe and the British Isles. It depicts the head of a man with foliage growing from it. Supposedly he represents "renewal" or "the cycle of life". He's seen, or rather someone dressed like him is seen during festivals in the Springtime. He goes by a lot of names but in England where I was born he’s known as the Green Man, look carefully at the photo of the back and you’ll see his head in the center.

I used commercial yarn (50 wool/50 cotton) I finger painted one skein with Jaquard Acid Dyes for the design. It was knit without any seams; starting across the top of the shoulders and including the sleeves and using a provisional CO then working down using short rows for the sleeve shaping. When I had worked down the fronts done to where the body began I removed the provisional CO and picked up the stitches. I then worked the back to the same point. I placed all the stitches on one needle and worked the body. The sleeve seam was grafted making the whole thing seamless.

This was the first time I had ever used the two-handed Fairisle method. As the design didn’t go from one edge to the other I also needed to master doing it two handed on the purl row. I was pretty clumsy at first and it did take quite a bit of time to get comfortable with it. Now I’m eager to do more Fairisle knitting. So eager that I picked up the Summer Issue of “InKnitters” because it has an extensive Primer on Steeking.

Back in Focus

You have heard how life has a way of happening when you have other plans made. Well, having gotten myself geared for some focus and discipline with my projects I was rudely blindsided and needed a couple of days in a couple of hospitals. Happily, I'm now back on track, although I seem to be going at a much slower speed, but that's OK!

It was so good to get home that I spent some time doing the touchy-feely thing with much of my fiber and books. I had to stop that as I found myself looking for the needles needed for a pattern I'd found for a scarf type shawl that is just perfect for a gift I have in mind. But just to prove to myself that I'm able to resist I picked up the vest I need to finish for the TKGA and now only need to finish the neck and armholes.

Our room is booked for the "Florida Fiber In" at St. Augustine Beach for the 3rd weekend in Sept. Carolyn is going to room with me as she was able to finagle other commitments. This is the first of what is hoped to be a yearly event. Which couldn't please me more as I'm only an hours drive from there.......instead of driving days to get to other fiber fest's. If anyone is interested in this event, I suggest joining the Yahoo group set up just for it and browse the achives.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/florida_fiber_in/

Stay tuned I really will post pictures soon.
Elayne