Yarn Rambles

My first Clapotis is finished!!

It is still a little damp from blocking so I brought it into the office to show everyone and then laid it back on the floor. It is absolutely pouring down rain today so I am going to wait for it to clear over the weekend to get shots of my wearing it.

It turned out to be rather large as you can see by my relational objects - book and 5 lb. dog. It does accordian up when you wear it which will help. I am actually happy with the oversized version because I like things that are shawl/blanket styles. I will definitely wear the clapotis to Peru so I can use it as a blanket on the plane.

Tonight Karen, Tina and I head up to the house for our knitting/quilting night. The corn chowder is in the crockpot and we bought Kalamata olive bread yesterday. For desert, chopped papaya and Asian pear with a bit of lime juice. Karen and Tina have not seen the musical 1776 so we'll watch that while we play.

I am going to get started on my nephew, Rob's, second hunting sweater. The first one turned out way too big and is now living at Rob's friend's house. Eric looks very nice in green. :) The second sweater is Mist Wool of the Andes. I'm planning an allover cable pattern called sand. My other project to start this weekend will be a pair of Latvian mittens from Lizbeth Upitis' book Latvian Mittens. That particular challenge has been on my mind for a long time. I have one ball each of Palette at home. I'm going to dump them all out on the floor and pick a nice, bright combination. I'll be sure to take lots of photos this weekend.

Chemo Hats!

Anna Guillemot was one of the knitters on our Walk for the Cure in Portland. She sent in a delightful package of chemo hats for our collection for a local hospital. Clearly Anna has the chemo hat knitting down to a science. She was quite comfortable knitting while we walked.

 

Photo Albums!!!

I decided to switch to typepad because it has many more options for making my blog more dynamic. I am particularly excited about including Photo Albums. It took just a few minutes to set them up. I think having albums of my knitting projects will be a big incentive to finish them. I can see progress as well as everyone else reading the blog.

The Clapotis is nearly finished! I am in the decreasing section. When I get home I am going to change into my pjs, sit down in front of the fireplace and knit all evening. I confess to watching the season premiere of Martha Stewart's Apprentice last week and I loved it!! Tonight I will be glued to the television at 8:00.

Perfect autumn weekend

We may get a lot of rain in the winter in the Pacific Northwest but it is a small price to pay for all the other absolutely wonderful weather we have. Saturday was crisp and got to about 70 degrees. Bob and I slept in and then went out for a round of golf. We were matched up with a very nice couple. The course we play is a walking course so we basically spent four hours walking in a beautiful park. Sunday morning Bob left on a business trip for 2 1/2 weeks!! That means my knitting production should skyrocket!

I sat around in my pj's all Sunday knitting on my Clapotis. Last night I began the decreasing section. I will say the Clapotis is a large project. Probably as much as a simple raglan sweater in terms of time. I can see how knitters can become bored with it because it is simple. I am going to make at least one more and I can see it being a travel project. Particularly for the plane segment of our trip to Peru. Yesterday we did a photoshoot for the catalog. We have been using one of our vice-president's daughters, Kari. When Karen came to pick up Kari we weren't quite finished so she settled down to do some knitting. Xena was quite happy sitting with "Auntie" Karen while we finished.

Knitting for the catalog

I am going to spend a couple of days knitting some quite nice projects for our next catalog. Can't give you a photo yet only because they aren't far enough along. Tonight we have our weekly office gathering. A little group of quilters and knitters stay after work for focused time on a variety of projects. The quilters have been focusing on large wedding ring quilts tops for several weeks. I make myself a nest of pillows on the floor and contentedly knit. It is amazing how much progress we all make in those four precious hours each week. I find the energy from those evenings often gets me through frustrating knitting challenges. I'll work on my catalog knitting tonight so I can focus on my clapotis over the weekend. It's going to be a perfect autumn weekend. Sunny but cold enough to have a fire in the fireplace. Umm, simple pleasures.

Learning the art of blogging

We had a fantastic day for the Walk for the Cure on Sunday. I have organized my photos but am still struggling with getting them on my blog as a photo album. I know there is a blog learning curve so I am trying to be patient. I am making fantastic progress on my Clapotis. It truly is an imaginative design. The increase section involves knitting a triangle as you add stitches. As the number of stitches increase, you add a marker every six stitches. The body of the scarf is knit diagonally just like one of those skinny diagonal scarves that are so popular. By adding a stitch at the beginning of a row and decreasing a stitch at the end, you achieve the diagonal look. You also work your way towards a marker. When you have decreased stitches up to the marker, you drop the stitch just after the marker and let it run all the way down to the bottom edge. I know it is confusing. I think it is actually a good test of knitting faith. The instructions are perfect so you need to take the leap and follow them with confidence. Here is my most recent shot of the Clapotis. Tomorrow? Maybe shots from the Walk.

Ready for Walk for the Cure

I spent some time organizing for the Walk on Sunday. I have everyone's shirts matched with their walk number and pin. I bought Xena a little water bottle/bowl thingy. I've made a list of items to take with me. I printed out a map to get to the Park and Ride for the MAX train into town. The weather looks like it will be perfect. Low 70's and a bit cloudy. I may not understand what I am doing but I am enjoying knitting my Clapotis. I am about two rows short of the first dropping of stitches. I know things will become clear after that. The knitting itself is very simple and satisfying. Because of the Clapotis I am having a bit of a project crisis regarding our trip to Peru. I had planned on taking enough yarn for a couple pair of socks. Now, I'm thinking about yarn for a second Clapotis. But, we sent out an e-mail today highlighting a book called Sensational Socks and it is very nice! I can see myself packing Sensational Socks, sock yarn and being happy for days of travel. I still have about six weeks. I will take plenty of pictures this weekend and share on Monday. I spent some time organizing for the Walk on Sunday. I have everyone's shirts matched with their walk number and pin. I bought Xena a little water bottle/bowl thingy. I've made a list of items to take with me. I printed out a map to get to the Park and Ride for the MAX train into town. The weather looks like it will be perfect. Low 70's and a bit cloudy. I may not understand what I am doing but I am enjoying knitting my Clapotis. I am about two rows short of the first dropping of stitches. I know things will become clear after that. The knitting itself is very simple and satisfying. Because of the Clapotis I am having a bit of a project crisis regarding our trip to Peru. I had planned on taking enough yarn for a couple pair of socks. Now, I'm thinking about yarn for a second Clapotis. But, we sent out an e-mail today highlighting a book called Sensational Socks and it is very nice! I can see myself packing Sensational Socks, sock yarn and being happy for days of travel. I still have about six weeks. I will take plenty of pictures this weekend and share on Monday.

Clapotis!!

I have wanted to knit a Clapotis for ages but couldn't figure out what yarn I wanted to use. I have decided to carry a strand of Andean Treasure with a strand of Shimmer. I'm making very good progress. It has been years since I knit something I didn't fundamentally understand. I have no idea how the dropped stitches will work but since everyone has had great success following the instructions, I will continue blindly following stitch by stitch. So far my experiment with monogamous knitting has been quite successful. I'm finding the act of finishing a project quite intoxicating. I'm becoming addicted to the satisfying mood I attain when I prance around wearing my newest creation. Tonight Bob and I are going out to dinner. No reason, I just want to enjoy an early fall evening sitting outside at our favorite restaurant. Of course, I will be knitting but Bob has gotten used to that.

Weekend Knitting

It seems that the hardest part of blogging will be to remember my User Name and Password. I've been ready to blog since Monday but couldn't quite figure out how to get into my blog. Oh well, all is right in my world now. I had a lovely, lazy weekend knitting on my Turqoise sweater. All day Saturday was devoted to sitting around watching old movies and knitting. I managed to get moving on Sunday in order to play golf with Bob. Bob's son, Adam came up for dinner. The two of them were having such a nice time solving all the world's problems that I didn't have to participate in the conversation too much. I sent them downstairs to watch a movie so I could continue knitting.

By the way, we do not have a computer at home so I won't have any weekend blog entries. Since we have easy access to computers at work, we felt it would be too risky for two workaholics to have a computer at home. It is also much better for our relationship. Otherwise, we would never have "marriage" time. Thanks to Monday Night Football the sweater was finished. I gave it a quick bath and a rather loose blocking. I wasn't interested in sizing as much as having the yarn relax from my knitting. It is such a soft joy!! I can hardly wait for the weather to change.

Knitting the World Together

I woke up this morning to crisp, cool, cloudy weather. The whole weekend is suppossed to be "fall-like". In the Portland, Oregon area that means clouds and rain. Perfect for encouraging me to finish up my Turqoise Raglan. This afternoon I went to our local Walk for the Cure distribution center. I am leading a team called Knitting The World Together which is our corporate charity division. There will be seventeen ladies knitting chemo hats while we walk the 3.1 miles on September 18th. I am hoping for the same sort of weather we are having today. Cool but no rain.