Knitting in PDX

I'm taking a breather here in Portland with my brother and his wife. I've had the luxury of spending most of the last day knitting, drinking coffee (Stumptown, we're not worthy), and playing with the dog. I can't complain.

I thought I'd do a quick post from the road: Progress resumes on the Swish Top-Down Raglan.


I also had a chance to shoot some photos of an old project that I completed last year (read: accosted my brother with the camera at the breakfast table). This was my bro's Christmas gift last year - I was happy to see that he continues to wear it often, especially in this brisk beautiful weather (wow Portland is gorgeous right now)

see the artsy version here

Its 'Shedir' from Knitty's Breast Cancer Awareness Mini-Issue. Knit with Rowan Calmer in 'Coffee Bean' on size US 3 16" circulars. I've always wanted to make another for myself, but I'm just too cheap for non-sale Rowan.

More to come from the road. A proper California update, and meeting with the wonder herself! Happy Halloween!

West Siiiiiide!

I'm off for a quick west coast tour - I'll be hitting up LA, San Fran, Portland and of course Seattle over the next 8 days. They're calling it a business trip, but to me its clearly time to see friends and catch up on knitting.

I'll be meeting up with some of the lovely ladies of blogland tomorrow morning - very exciting! As far as projects: I'm bringing sweaters. Only.


it grows.
I may not be posting throughout the week. My apologies in advance if I dont respond to e-mails or comments in a timely fashion. My internet access will be spotty at best.

I'll leave you with some eye candy - it is friday after all.


click for details
Have a great week!

Toasty

I'm happily reveling in the cold weather. It seemed like such a long time coming and I'm glad to be wearing handknits in some way, shape, or form on most days. Since it seems like a big month for socks... and I know realistically I wont be knitting any this month (surprise surprise), I thought I'd at least let you know that I've actually been wearing my whopping one pair from the past year...


log cabin socks from 'handknit holidays' in rowan cork

I hadn't really been all that excited about these before. It turns out I'm not a big fan of thick wool socks (or thick-wool-anything for that matter. This statement is only 90% true). BUT, these have been great to wear around the apartment, especially when the barefeet hit that cold hardwood floor in the morning. I've even thrown them on with the birk clogs for work on some of the colder days. Scandalous!

Also, you may have noticed an air of silence shrouding the whole EZ baby sweater issue? Well, that's because I've run out of yarn before finishing. I've run out of a dye-lot-less, hand-dyed yarn. And I like the project too much to tear it out and use another one. I knew I didn't have enough from the start. I knew I'd run out... but I knit it anyway. So I can't complain... but I'm weighing my options. I'll be seeing Sundara in a week and a half when I go home to Seattle, so maybe we'll figure something out together. If not, I'll just use a contrasting color for the garter cuffs, and make a short sleeve sweater. It'll drive me crazy that the garter yoke and cuffs will be different colors, but hey, I'm sure the baby will be a bit less judgmental. Here's the most recent shot, although I've added about 4 or 5 more inches to the body since.


What will be the fate of you, little one? We'll have to wait and see. Baby is due mid November, so I have some time to flounder. And it'll take me all of 3 hours to finish once I get some yarn that works.

Developments

The knitting stalwart finally broke. Now I am back to my comfortable state of too-many-projects-in-the-basket. Ahhh, doesn't it feel good?

Two sweaters have commenced in the last week and a half... and another is on the brink. I told you about that Rowanspun Chunky I had lying around, waiting for its moment in the sun? Well the design has finally come off the graph paper and jumped onto the needles. It isn't much to see now, but I'm having a great time working it out.

apologies for the artificial light

The plan is to make an aran jacket with deep pockets and a hood (we'll see if I have enough yarn. Rowanspun yardage is incredible, but a hood takes up a lot of yarn... especially on such a large sweater: 6 inches of ease, wooh!). The color is completely off in the photo. It was about midnight, under the light of a desk lamp (against all my principles). Go figure.

I was home sick Monday and Tuesday and of course took the opportunity to jump start another project I've been thinking about. Ever since I got my hands on some of KnitPicks' new superwash wool, I've wanted to try it out on a sweater. Plus, my urge for a top down seamless raglan was insatiable. Its been too long.


I'm very pleased with the fabric produced. It has a similar (at least to me) squishy quality as the fabric of Karabella Aurora 8, although with a bit more 'woolyness' to it. Just a bit. I never believe Aurora 8 is 100% wool anyway. The post-washing fabric isn't as nice as the Karabella, which is to be expected (you get what you pay for), but I think its definitely gonna be a comfortable one to wear, and probably can be pulled off in the professional atmosphere. Meaning I can actually wear it regularly. We'll see.

An important note about the Swish: Row gauge changes noticeably after washing and drying. Carolyn and I have come up with the same findings (I think its definitely in KnitPicks' best interest to advertise this.) After a wash and dry (KP endorses this as a machine dryable yarn), my row gauge was 8 rows to the inch. The unwashed fabric is 7 rows to the inch. As you can imagine this caused some major confusion while planning armhole depth, etc for the top down raglan. This, however, was easily remedied in true top-down fashion (versatility, check). I do still need to run a quick test to see if the shrinkage happened after just the wash, or after the washer+dryer combo. I suspect the latter, but need to check to be absolutely sure.

Finally, my tweed came for my EZ sweater. I'm a little late on the upstart, but I think it was worth the wait. Check out these beauties!


Have a wooly week. I know I will!

When indecision strikes.... sometimes my strategy is to take a completely unforeseen direction. I guess you could also call this ignoring the problem...? Details.

There has been some progress on the cardigan front - I finally purchased the yarn for my Saddle Shoulder Aran. I actually ended up picking up (buying online) Classic Elite Skye Tweed on sale in a beautiful color that I was not able to pass on. Of course there is much Beaverslide still in my future, just not yet.

There are some babies being born in the world. I wanted to make something for one. I've wanted to try the Knitters Almanac (EZ) February Baby Sweater for some time. Who is always one step ahead of me in all things Zimmermann? Well it seems like Elli is. She made this one and in doing so made my decision for pending-project a whole lot easier.


its not much so far, just a garter stitch yoke. I would have knit more, but I'm taking a trip to Chicago this weekend and wanted to save the project for the plane. With such a wee little sweater, I had to control myself the last two nights or I would've probably finished before leaving on my trip (I don't have much room in my small bag for any in-progress large projects) (sock knitters, no admonitions necessary).


the real reason I'm showing you this, is just to say that I'm happily consuming more of my Sundara stash. What a great experience it always is. Have you tried her yet? This is the worsted superwash merino somewhat solid "green over yellow." I had showed it to you as part of my Sundara haul a few months back. I am enjoying this way too much.

Well, I'm off for what I hear is an even windier city than usual. Have a great weekend!

more yarn.

because you know, there aint never enough around here.



wahooooooooo


*as per usual, more details behind the photos...*

Decisions.

I've been all over the place trying to get my latest EZ project in gear. The main problem is that there are too many things that I would enjoy making. And too many good yarns to couple with great patterns. My first plan of attack was to take down the Saddle Shoulder Aran Cardigan (heretofore called SSAC) from Wool Gathering 63. I bought the pattern and have been itching to start, but have been keeping my eyes out for the perfect wool to match. In the meantime, I brokedown and purchased this...


To call it a 'new obsession' would be quite an understatment. Its the newest addition to my EZ library, and I think I can safely say my favorite of hers so far (the photography in the book gets extra points. I'm sure if there were modern day photographs of the patterns in her other books, i'd be partial to them as well... partial being a completely relative term in this context) . Having spent the last two weeks with my nose between the pages has succeeded in filling my head with all sorts of ideas.

I have had this Rowanspun Chunky in the stash for months, waiting for the right time to strike.


I've known I wanted a cabled jacket out of the stuff (shawl collar or hood preferred), but haven't had the time to sit down and design everything. Well, there's a cabled jacket in The Opinionated Knitter that has me thinking about this again. On top of this, my color cards from Beaverslide finally came (this is what I was waiting on to get the Wool Gathering Sweater started)... and again, everything went to shit:


there are way too many colors and wools that I want to use, and many a yarn thats perfect for the SSAC. Now, don't get me wrong. I have absolutely no problem working two wooly cabley cardigans at once. It actually seems an ideal situation. But then there are other things that I have to work on (for business or pleasure) that can't be ignored.

And there are things like this:


bad ass. truly.
that just make my life more complicated. I want one of these too. No, actually, I just want to look as cool as this kid does.

All the while, other cravings are being satiated.


Is it possible for there to be too much of a good thing? Doubtful.

Cant. Resist. The Urge.


Must. Fair Isle.

Swallowtail Shawl

Saturday the weather was too beautiful for city dwelling. We jumped in the car heading North from Boston with visions of red leaves as our guide . We ended up enjoying New Hampshire for the day and hiking in the White Mountains. Let me just say, you New Englanders know how to serve up a beautiful Fall! I had a great time (in Boston as well) and threw the Swallowtail in the bag, just in case a photo opportunity presented itself. In an afternoon-light-bathed forest, how could I resist?

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Source: Interweave Knits Magazine; Fall 2006
Materials: Elann's Baby Silk (80% Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk) in 'Parchment' (just over 3 balls)
Needles: US 4 (mm) Addi Turbo Circulars
Total Cost: $10 (!)

Started: 11 August 2006
Completed: 25 August 2006 (dates approximate)

This project, while still being in the 'simple lace' category to me, was much more exciting and enjoyable than the other Evelyn Clark patterns that I've knit. I like the combination of motifs... but really its all about lace bobbles. They're awesome! Nupps for life!


There's not much more to say. I've seen a bunch of people make this great project, and if you like how looks... I say, make one too! Its definitely on the small side, but thats how it was intended. I would really enjoy doing the pattern again in say... a worsted? It'd be bigger, and the nupps would be even more voluminous...


I hate that its Monday already, but here's hoping everyone has a great week. Keep knitting.