Yarn Rambles

Nesting Weekend

I made a lot of headway on Rob's sweater but taking a photo of it at this stage really doesn't make any sense. I am actually going to start the armhole steeks tonight so that will be worth noting.

The whole weekend was soggy and dreary. I spent a couple of hours on Saturday feathering my nest by cooking. As a vegetarian, I rarely prepare meat for Bob but I was on a culinary roll. I bought a pork loin roast, slashed small holes in the surface and stuffed them with chunks of garlic and lemon peel. Then I oiled the whole thing and rolled it in spices to sit overnight Friday night.

Saturday morning I steamed up so leftover winter squash, sauteed apple, onion and garlic. All of that simmered for a couple of hours and then got whirled up into a comforting soup. One roasting dish was filled with beets, carrots and more lemon rind. The other, the classic Yukon Gold potatoes with big chunks of onion. For my main course, I had melted cheese toast with tomato and lots of mayonaise. The soup went with it quite well.

Because we had plenty of leftovers, Sunday was laaaaazy. Sitting and happily knitting Rob's sweater while I read a silly mystery.

That's pretty much my idea of a perfect autumn weekend. Tonight, steeking and Monday Night Football.

I'm spinning again!

While reading through some of my favorite knitting blogs, I saw a reference to Golding drop spindles at the Keyboard Biologist's blog. When I started spinning in college I gave drop spindles about ten minutes before I blew my entire savings on a spinning wheel. I just couldn't appreciate the technique and I wanted high production - sweaters. I spent many happy years preparing mountains of fleece and spinning to my little heart's desire.

Last year I realized that Knit Picks yarns would provide me with all the yarn I need for a lifetime so I gave my spinning wheel and tools to a young spinner who will love them as much as I did.

Then came the reference to the Golding drop spindle reference. I went to the site and I was enchanted. I miss feeling fiber flow through my fingers spinning into yarn. I know I don't want to go back to lots of spinning but maybe it is time for a drop spindle to fit nicely into my life. Portable and I could stick to small goals like mittens, hats and scarves. Yes, I ordered my spindle and it arrived yesterday. Last night I scared up some old fiber. Wool for practice and then some very yummy hand dyed roving and a big bag of camel/silk blend.

I love it!! The brass ring on the outer edge balances it beautifully and it spins forever! I need some practic which is why you don't see any spun up yarn. Give me a few days. Just like everything else in life, quality counts and this spindle is the best!! We are going to become good friends!

I love weekends!!

I know everybody loves weekends but please understand my position. For over a year I worked every weekend as we launched the Knit Picks yarn lines. It has only been the last couple of months that I have been at home with no work obligations. It feels so good!!!

Saturday morning Bob and I headed out for golf. After nine holes I was overcome with "nesting" cravings and I begged to go home. I curled up on the sofa in a sun spot and slept for two hours. Then I started a chemo hat for a friend of a friend. I knew I could finish it in about four hours and it felt so nice to start a project that could be finished so quickly.

All finished by Sunday morning!! Notice the tag. I made a bunch of them to attach to chemo hats we receive here at the office for donation. I just couldn't drop them off at the cancer center without some sort of note. I don't make memory albums but I love all the stuff they have. With the stamp, acrylic flower heart and ribbon, each tag takes me about a minute.

I chose to stay home on Sunday to slouch around in my pjs and knit. I decided to stop knitting the "too big" Latvian mitten and use it as a gauge swatch instead. I steamed me "swatch" and I officially knit Palette at 6.5 stitches to the inch on #1 needles. That will be good to know when I plan my real mittens. I have also decided to use much more dramatic colors for my mittens. Subtle just doesn't work as well as I thought.

The rest of Sunday was devoted to Rob's sweater. I know you are wondering what is taking me so long. Remember that cabling tends to draw in the fabric so you usually have many more stitches than you would for stockinette stitch. Rob's sweater has about 250 stitches so it feels a bit more like knitting a Norwegian sweater. I am still enjoying the simple repeat of the pattern.

That's it for the weekend.

Sock Rebellion

I have decided to stray from the instructions in Sensational Knitted Socks. It's the heel thing. Charlene's instructions for all her socks are fantastic but I just don't like making conventional heels. I don't like stopping my circular knitting rhythmn to work back and forth, knit short rows, pick up stitches, etc. I did knit the heel flap to see if my attitude has changed recently but no success. I ripped out the heel and I am going to stick to the tried and true afterthought heel.

Two ladies in the office, Bridget and Karen, love turning heels. They see it as literally turning the corner on their socks and heading down the back stretch. I just see it as a huge speed bump. That's what is so nice about knitting, to each his own.

You may wonder how I even got as far as the heel so quickly. It's called a staff meeting - 2 1/2 hours of staff meeting. I also had a catalog planning meeting so that was another hour. I spent that time fixing a couple of mistakes in another lady's sock knitting. It was a very knitty day yesterday.

A new world of socks

I couldn't resist the pull of Sensational Knitted Socks any longer. I had gathered up yarn for traveling projects but I broke into the stash last night to start a pair of Four-Stitch Reticulated Pattern socks. I chose Pattern 9 which was shown just out of laziness. The two-color stitch patterns are only four stitches wide which makes each row's repeat very easy to remember. I should make very good progress today because I have two rather long meetings in which I listen much more than participate.

The colors I chose were Essential in Cocoa and Sock Garden in Daffodil. Two balls of each should be plenty for a pair of socks. I love the way the Daffodil plays off the Cocoa with such an autumn look. Looks like leaves laying on a forest floor. The pattern is not distinct but that works for me. There are 12 stitch patterns for this particular technique so I will experiment with something else on the next pair. Yep, that's what has me concerned. I'm going to be making "next pairs" for a very long time.

Tina, here at the office, introduced me to those vacuum packing bags. They open all sorts of possibilities for packing. I don't think I want to make any decisions regarding my Christmas Latvian mitten knitting. I am going to take one ball each of the Palette yarns and then fuss with colors selection when we get to Hawaii. They will all be in a small package once I squeeze out all the air.

Tonight we have our Thursday night gathering at the office. Rob's sweater is going to be set aside so I can focus on my socks. Sorry, but I am so curious to see how they turn out. And, the weather report is for more rain all weekend so I will have plenty of sweater knitting time.

Pacific Northwest Sunday

This is what I woke up to on Sunday - Perfect!!

After spending Saturday at the office reorganizing yet another part of my life, I was looking forward to a lazy knitting Sunday. I turned on the gas fireplace, found an old movie on television (Note to Self - Ask for Tivo for birthday present) and settled in for a full day of knitting on Rob's sweater.

The joy of a simple, allover cable pattern, a hot cup of tea and a strawberry toaster pop. Eventually the football games started so you can pretty much fill in the rest of my day for yourself.

Today I continued with the massive office reorganization. Saturday was throw-stuff-away day. Today was put back what was left in a coordinated way. I thought about taking before and after photos but it was just too disgusting to document.

My treat for all this hard work, besides a functioning office space, was to take my copy of Sensational Knitted Socks over to Kinko's to have it spiral bound. I like knitting socks but there is something about this book that is turning me into a sock knitting fanatic! It is definitely one of the few books I would insist on having on a desert island. Actually, Charlene's book is the first non-Elizabeth Zimmerman book I would want with me if I were looking at years of beach knitting. I'm going to take sock yarn and Charlene's book with me to Peru in November. I like the idea of keeping everything small and easy on a busy trip.

My closet is a work of art!!

I got a bit sidetracked by a migraine on Monday but I have now completed my closet! I love it!! Worth all the time, effort and whining.

Stash organization is not for the faint of heart

I had a lovely time playing with my yarns last night but I am only about halfway through the project. I told you I wouldn't be knitting until Saturday. Tonight will be more of the same but I am confident I will be finished and quite happy with the result.

Saturday is all about someone else's knitting. Teri is a wonderful lady in our Connecting Threads division who has been doing quite a bit of knitting. She is making her first sweater loosely based on our Abigail Pullover pattern but she is using Decadence in Tide. Teri is a beginning knitter so I try to make things easier for her. The sweater is knit in the round until the armholes, then the back and front are knit back and forth. Teri is not good keeping her purls and knits consistent when she works back and forth. I decided to have her use steeks for the sleeve openings and the neck shaping so she could continue to knit in the round. Since she is a beginner and I really only get to see her at work, I am going to do the shoulder connecting and get everything ready for her to knit the sleeves down to the cuff. I want to put an i-cord connection along the top of the shoulders and around the sleeves connections. Wish me luck. I would love to have it all ready for Teri to take over on Monday. Decadence is such a great yarn for beginners because it is bulky. The progress is quite fast.

I'm not too sure about Sunday. I have a few housekeeping chores. I hope to get started early in the morning so I will have the afternoon and evening for my own knitting. Rob's sweater!!

Organizational Frenzy!

After a disappointing trip to Target, very ugly storage containers at ridiculous prices, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Score!! A storage sale with clear boxes and LIME GREEN tops!! Such a happy woman. The poor man who helped me seemed a bit concerned at the quantity I was requesting but when I said it was for my closet and my knitting yarn stash he seemed molified.

Last night I finished picking up the straggling Good Will articles and put seasonal clothes in their nice, new containers. I gathered up my yarns from around the house so tonight is all about knitting. As you know, we have a quilting catalog called Connecting Threads. That means we have several quilters. I have always admired the way quilters wash their fabrics before they add them to their stash. So, tonight I am going to ball up any skeined yarns before I put them in their bins. I'm still not quite sure of my final system but I would like to use the drawer containers for projects I want to work on soon.

I also have bins to sort out my odd balls of leftover yarns. Right now I am sorting by cool and warm colors. I will probably get more detailed, like blues, greens, reds, etc., when I have more yarns. Palette, of course, easily sorted into two containers. The weather today is dark and rainy. Perfect for a fire in the fireplace, a good movie and stash management. I don't think I will get to any knitting before Saturday. But, I will be filled with rightousness after all my good work so I will have absolutely no quilt in spending the entire weekend in my pjs knitting.

You win some, you lose some

I suspect that I am a "process" knitter. The big clue is that I don't get too upset when a project doesn't turn out exactly as I planned. I absorb the lessons I learned and then remember them when I start new projects. My recent/current projects are perfect examples.

First, we have the Clapotis. I have finally admitted to myself that it is waaaay too big for me to actually wear. Ok, I figured out how the Clapotis process works and I am undetered in my desire to knit a second. Now I know to go down several needles sizes and I am going to use sock yarn for my next one. I have already figured out a very good use for the Clapotis blanket. I am always cold when I sit up on bed or on the sofa reading or knitting. My ultra-soft, ultra-warm Clapotis is going to have a very useful life as my "bankie" wrapped around my shoulders all cuddly and comforting.

Last Friday night, Karen and Tina spent the night so we could indulge in a craft binge. I started a mitten out of Latvian Mittens. There are four sections of braiding on the cuff. Something I have always found intriguing. When I finished the braided sections it was clear that the mitten will be too big for my hands. I am going to finish it as a lesson for the Latvian technique and then I will choose another design to adapt to fewer stitches to make a pair of mittens. Since mittens were going to be my projects for our Hawaii Christmas break, I am glad to have the chance to work out the technique before I settle down to knit on vacation.

My third knitting lesson of the weekend is my nephew Rob's sweater. I already made a Gansey that was also too big. Are you seeing a pattern here? I am an extraordinarily relaxed knitter so I have to guard against oversizing projects. I am taking that into account as I knit Rob's second sweater. I will be putting it on a holding yarn soon so I can measure the size before I get too far along. Still, I am having such a good time with the overall cable design that I don't really care. The finished sweater will fit somebody!!

I took Monday and Tuesday off to focus on total closet reorganization. Exhausting but I am thrilled with the results. This afternoon I am heading to Target to buy bins for my yarns. I know it will be so nice when I am finished.