Lovely Fibers

Qiviut is a lovely fiber. Too bad it's so...pricey. I could easily knit everything, forever, with this fiber. I finished the qivuit cowl on the flight home from New England last week. Too late to wear for the big snowstorm, but it will work out well for the windy Arizona days next winter.

The cowl is a generous size, using the entire ball of qivuit/merino/silk from Windy Valley Musk Ox. This is all that was left when I finished sewing in the ends.

The cowl scrunches up nicely around the neck, although a bit loosely for my taste. I probably should have dropped down a needle size, and if I make any more of these I certainly will.

On the other hand, it's a perfect size to pull up over my head, and I will probably wear it like this more often than just around the neck. This pattern came with the yarn purchase; the designer now has it and other patterns listed on Ravelry. You can also find my pattern notes here.

When I got back from the trip, a special box was waiting for me. A few weeks ago Margene held a contest and I was lucky enough to get picked as a winning comment. I have been reading Margene's blog for a long time and find that she is a great source of inspiration to me, especially to get at my spinning! The box was crammed with goodies. St. Pat's Day candies, which we've saved for today, and a pretty bookmark.

There was also beautifully scented soap from Blessed Juno, but I didn't take a picture of it at the time and now it's in use every day! There was also this colorful sock yarn from Brooklyn Handspun; Margene really knows the colors I love! This yarn is very soft; I'm thinking of knitting it up in a simple sock pattern to show off the amazing colors.

Finally, there were two packs of fiber for spinning, yak and baby camel!! As I told Margene, the family is just getting used to me knitting with musk ox, and now there is more exotic fiber in the house. Well, they'll just have to deal with it; I think it's fantastic that a body can get to play with such non-traditional fibers. Thank you, Margene, for being so inspirational and generous!

Catching Up

Since coming back from New England on Monday, I've been trying to catch up with just about everything in life. Amazing how being gone for nine days can screw up the home situation. The lack of groceries, the overabundance of laundry, the dust bunnies, the dog hair, the mountain of mail, etc. Not to mention catching up at work on all the changes while I was gone. But there was much productive knitting and three projects were finished in the course of the trip.

The Twisted Cables Pullover was finished and was a major success. It fit the younger granddaughter perfectly and she didn't want to take it off. And hasn't taken it off. I was very pleased with the pattern and the Patternworks Bretton Heathers yarn. Hopefully it will hold up well with the use it's going to get. All the details are on my Ravelry page.

Altogether there were six sweaters and vests that made the trip and stayed behind. The little ones, of course, are for the new grandchild on the way, and the others are for wearing now.

The Glacier Scarf was also finished. How appropriate that I should finish it and wear it for the remains of the big east coast snowstorm! The Pink Carrots yarn is extremely soft on my neck and this is definitely going to be a favorite scarf. Again, details are on my Ravelry page.

There was much snowball throwing and snow hiking. There was also a first knitting lesson, using the Glacier scarf! There are more than a few three year old's first stitches in it, making the scarf an extra special treasure.

Another finished project and more lovelies next time.

Oh, I love the blue!

It was a good week. I didn't get as much knitting in as I had hoped to, and that's usually the way these things go. I spent a few extra hours napping -- hey, if you can't have the luxury of a nap while on vacation, what's the point? And there were a lot of activities not really condusive to knitting. (Sorry, I don't knit in the jacuzzi, although I'm sure it's been done.)

I worked on the qiviut for most of the plane ride and associated airport waiting. It's not too far from Tucson to Houston, but I did get several repeats of the pattern done. This knitting worked well for the cramped quarters of an airplane seat.

The next day we were shuttled out to Galveston to board our ship. It was still dismaying to see so much destruction still evident in Galveston. Broken boats still littered the side of the roads and damage to homes and buildings was very obvious. But on the whole it didn't look too bad. Nothing like it must have looked right after the hurricane.

Once we got on the ship, the qiviut cowl was abandoned. The blue of all the Caribbean water was overwhelming, and for a little while I worked on the Glacier scarf. The yarn was melding itself into all the shades of blue surrounding the ship.

But the scarf didn't hold my attention for long. I spent most of my knitting time with Icarus and the Malabrigo lace. The yarn feels warm and yummy and I couldn't stay away from it. I knit on this all the flight back home. The blue lace reflected itself in the waters as well. I'm so glad I started this project and took it with me. It was nothing but sheer pleasure to work on.

Trip pictures and adventures aplenty, so stay tuned if you enjoy that sort of posting.

I've Been Soooo Good!

I've been to the LYS twice this month and haven't bought any new yarn! However, I have to admit that nothing I saw really grabbed me by the neck, if you know what I mean. I ran there to get some needles and other notions for the current projects. There were no new books in stock either, so on the whole I got out easy.



We are getting ready for our winter vacation. Neither of us is able to take any time off at Christmas or New Year's. Well, I could take some time off, but it's an unwritten rule in our little group that none of us takes off at the holidays. If it's your regular day off, then you have the holiday off. If it's your regular work day, and Christmas falls on it, sorry. Your turn will come again in a couple years. It was the fairest solution we could all come up with. And yes, my work days were Christmas and New Year's this time. And it's a very busy several weeks for Joe; the rest of the staff gets the time off but he can't. He actually is pretty indispensible at times, at least as far as church duties go. So come January he has to take the time off that he couldn't over the holidays. And he gets to pick where we go and what we do. Someplace very warm...



The suitcases are out in the spare room and we are tossing in clothes and all those other odd items that one takes on vacation (backpacks, water shoes, toothpaste). Of course the knitting was among the first things selected. Sometimes I think the project choices are harder to make than the clothes choices. Projects need to be relatively simple, but some detail is necessary. They must be small enough to transport easily. Not all scarves, not all lace. Excuse me. I think I'm taking all lace.

The lacy qiviut neck cowl has been waiting for such a moment as this. It will be the first project of choice on the airplane. Small and not too complicated, it should help the time pass.

The second choice is this scarf, Tiennie's Old Shale scarf pattern. The yarn is Pink Carrot sock yarn in blues and grays. (In fact, this very skein of mine is used for Ravelry's feature photo.) I'm calling this my Glacier Scarf. Can you see why?



This is a close up of Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. The scarf makes me think of the beautiful colors in the ice - without the dirt and grit, of course. And I was worried that I wouldn't be able to identify Alaska with any of my other Alaska-purchased yarns after I finished the Monkey socks! Silly me.

The Glacier Scarf has been my at-work knitting, and given how busy we have been it's not surprising that so little has been done on it. I hope to get a good part of this done during our trip. At home I've been knitting on another toddler sweater. This is Sam's Delight from Kid's Knitted Sweaters and More. It is knit from the top down (duh) and will be knit in the round once the yoke is finished. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash, and it's a much truer red than the camera shows. It's a very easy knit and good for evenings watching NCIS. And House.

Then, in case I get tired of knitting neckwear, I've started up again on Icarus. This time I'm using my Malabrigo laceweight. I love the softness of this yarn! I've gotten the shawl started so that I don't have to fiddle with the cast on while on the trip.

I'm anxious to spend more time with this, but I'm still trying to get the Christmas decorations put away before we leave on Friday. Okay, I'd like to at least get the stuff all gathered up and out to the garage before we go. But I'm very proud of myself -- I'm not stressing over it and I'm making a point to not get so tied up in housework that I'm neglecting to walk each day and fix some healthy meals. So I'm doing pretty well on the New Year's resolutions, except that I still haven't started spinning again yet. At this point it won't happen until after we return, but I am still determined to get going on that again. I have such lovely fiber in the house and I really want to knit something out of yarn I've spun myself.



Before I forget, I have to publicly thank Kathy for the yarn she sent me in return for a knit hat I sent her for her charity drive. Pink lace weight, no doubt to become little girl lace scarves someday. Thank you, Kathy! And thank you to all my regular readers for starting out another year with me!

Talk to you when we get back.

About Time

I got blogging in 2009. It's been busy. Work has been extraordinary hectic this first week of January. I've been coming home worn out most nights and haven't had the energy to do most of the things I normally do after work. Certainly haven't gotten on the spinning yet.

The Monkeys in Alaska are finally finished. The second sock got kitchenered on Tuesday. I'm very pleased with the results. I went down to a 1.5 needle rather than a 2 and could probably easily go to a size 1 or maybe even a size 0. I do like my socks snug. I only did 11 repeats this time instead of 12 as I did the other two times I made this pattern. Details are on my Ravelry page. I hope someday I can get more of this yarn.

The ball of leftover yarn is sitting on the dresser. It's going to stay there awhile.

The Last FO of the Year

Or at least it's the likely last FO. Not even a knit. On Sunday I finished up the first cross stitch project I've done in several years. I'd stopped cross stitching because my near vision was getting worse and it was no longer comfortable. (Knitting, on the other hand, rarely required any close up work.) Back in October I did finally go to the eye doctor and complained about it. Now that I have new glasses and a new, stronger prescription, working on 14 count cloth goes very nicely. But I still need sunlight in order for my eyes not to strain.

Here is the fourth Alaska project. I started this one while on the trip as well.

I'm trying to finish up the Monkeys in Alaska socks before the new year, but I'm only semi-optimistic at this point. Not enough time today and then working all day tomorrow. I am taking the time to wind up the yarn for my first cast on project of 2009. This is the Pink Carrot sock yarn I bought in Ketchikan (Ravelry link). There are over 460 yards in this skein and I decided that I did not want another pair of socks. I love my knit socks, I love them when it is cold, but it's just not that cold that often here. So this is going to be a scarf (I love scarves!) and I'm going to use Tiennie's Old Shale pattern for sock yarn. It should make for lovely, relaxing knitting. And I love the intense blue in this yarn.

Seems to me that all I'm lacking now is a Z post to wind up the year. Anybody got a spare Z?

Cable Vest

I've finished up the last of the Baby Cashmerino by making another Debbie Bliss vest. This is the third of the Alaska projects to be finished. The pattern is from Simply Baby (Ravelry link), the size is 9-12 months. The pattern calls for two skeins of the Cashmerino, but I'd read several comments on Ravelry that two skeins would not be enough. That was exactly what I found. Oh, I could knit the vest itself, but if I'd not had plenty of the Baby Cashmerino left over from the prior vest I would have been stuck for the neckband and armbands.

This is a very nice little pattern but don't try it without plenty of the yarn.

I finished this up on Dec. 14 and posted on Ravelry, but for whatever reason forgot to post it here. This is knit with Size 2 and 3 needles. Because of the cables, it took me about twice as long to knit as the last vest (mostly stockinette) did.

The first Alaska knit, the Noro Striped Scarf, went to Michael's fiance Carolyn for Christmas. It was an immediate hit. She will certainly need it when she goes back to school. As a matter of fact, she can use it here in Arizona. The temperatures are going into the 20's at night and I had to break ice off the car this morning just to open the door. That doesn't happen often! Just goes to show you how crazy the weather is.

Stay warm!

Projects

It's about time to do an update on the current projects. Three of them, anyways.

The Monkeys in Alaska socks are coming along. The first sock is finished, and the second is moving along slowly. This is my carry to work project and the second sock isn't seeing much knit time lately. This time I made the first sock with six pattern repeats on the leg and only five repeats on the foot. The fit is much better this time.

I'm using the rest of the Baby Cashmerino to knit the Cable Tank Top from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby. I had researched the pattern on Ravelry and found that knitters were having trouble getting the 9-12 months size out of the two balls of yarn called for. But since I have plenty of the yarn leftover from the Little Vest, I know I won't have a problem with this size. Since taking this picture, I have finished the back of the vest, and I only had 3 yards of yarn left over from the full ball of yarn I used for the back. So it certainly seems that 2 balls of yarn as called for in the pattern is cutting it pretty close.

Although I'm working nearly exclusively on the vest while at home in the evenings, I couldn't resist casting on for a cowl with the qiviut. I got a free pattern from the shop when I purchased the yarn, and that's the one I'm using. The pattern is not on Ravelry, but the designer is...perhaps I'll contact her and see if she is interested in getting this pattern listed now that there will be a project to pair up with it. The qiviut is wonderful to knit with!

We are away this weekend at Joe's church retreat. It's still in the 80's during the day in Tucson, so this will probably be my last shot at summer this year. I think I'll take the Monkey sock to work on. See you all next week!

A Baby Vest

First it was a sweater, now a baby vest. Little garments are the thing around here these days. Yes, there's going to be a new grandbaby in the family next spring, a new sibling for the two granddaughters. There's also going to be a wedding next summer, but that's another story. So far no knits are planned for that one.

This is Alaska project #2. Debbie Bliss "Vest" pattern from "Essential Baby". I used two balls of the Baby Cashmerino that I bought in Victoria, B.C. I did not use the entire two balls of yarn. This is the 3-6 months size. I enjoyed knitting with this yarn. It was very soft and had a nice texture that felt good on my fingers. It was a fairly quick knit for someone who only worked on it for an hour or so in the evenings.

Details on my Ravelry page.

Walking in the Silk Garden

The first of the Alaskan projects is finished. The Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood was my airplane knitting, as well as balcony knitting throughout the trip.

The scarf was finished on Sunday. I used a full four skeins of Noro Silk Garden.

255 and 258 were multicolor skeins. I picked two similar skeins to complement each other.

I used two skeins of 267, which were varying values of the same brown/gray color. This made an excellent base for the two multicolor skeins.

I did not find this in the least boring. I love the finished scarf and of course love the Noro. Nothing I've ever seen can compare to the way the Silk Garden slips so easily from one shade into the next. So much depth and uniqueness to these scarves!

I doubt that this will be the only one I knit.