Slow Slow Quick

Juggling knitting WIPs is a dance, isn’t it? Right now I have two “slow” and one “quick” to share. First, the quick:I whipped up this hat out of stash leftovers (Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Lava Heather and Cobblestone). It’s destined for Caps for Kids. Part of our Knitters’ Day Out registration every year is to donate a hat. I’m ahead of the game – KDO isn’t until September.

I’m nearing the finish line on my Vodka Lemonade sweater – I have about half of the second sleeve to finish and then it will be ready for a bath. This is a teaser photo. You can tell that the fabric isn’t behaving. It should settle down after a dunk.I still don’t think I got the sizing quite right, but I’m learning. I keep reminding myself that I knit LOTS of socks before I got great at knitting socks that fit well, and the same will be true for sweaters. Isn’t the seed stitch on the color just delicious? And here is my other “slow” project – a handspun Clockwork: I love how meditative all that garter stitch is. But since the shawl is knit lengthwise, each row takes a while. This isn’t ideal for office knitting unless I know I’m going to be at a certain kind of meeting (long, big). Most of this is being knit at home.

I’ve actually started another quick project, too – a pumpkin hat for a baby who is expected in October. These little hats are so satisfying!

America’s favorite flavor

I don’t have any data to back this up, but I’m guessing it’s vanilla. And why not? It goes perfectly with so many things. One of them is self-striping sock yarn. Boy 1 has grown out of most of his handknit socks and points out to me rather regularly that he needs more. Last time I needed a mindless office project, I grabbed this ancient ball of Regia and cast on.You can see that I knit these at least 1/2” too long in the toe. This is intentional, because I want these to fit next fall when the weather starts cooling down again.

Also in the “plain vanilla” category is the hat I started yesterday specifically so I’d have something to knit at the baseball game. This is a stash hat that is part of my Knitters’ Day Out registration fee. I’m using Knit Picks Swish Worsted (always a good idea to use washable yarn for charity knitting) in colors Lava Heather and Cobblestone. I’m throwing in a couple of grey stripes for fun. Otherwise, it’s a deep purple stockinette hat.

My handspun Clockwork is zipping along – I’ll have photos of that for you next time. And my Vodka Lemonade sweater only needs sleeves, so it’s progressing nicely.

The knitters gathered at my house this afternoon. Dave has started his Albers Cowl from the Miss Babs kit – these are his colors:I was inspired to wind my 7 mini-skeins in anticipation of casting on. Garter is so comforting. My little balls are ready to go once I finish one or two other things: Can’t wait!

Why did the monkey like the banana?

Because it had appeal!

I joined the barrel of Monkey makers kind of late in the game, knitting my first pair in 2010. They were purple. Remember?

Back then, S1 said “hey, if you’re ever wondering what socks to make for me, I really like those Monkeys.” Two and a half years later, I got around to them: These are made from a skein of yarn I got at Sock Summit (the second one, in 2011) from Dirty Water Dyeworks. The yarn is called Lucia and the color is Pixie. It’s the standard 75/25 superwash merino/nylon in a very light fingering weight.I am so happy to finally have socks from this yarn. This is the THIRD project I’ve tried to make with this yarn, and the FOURTH attempt (because I started the Elm socks twice after changing my mind about needle size).

This is an ideal sock for spring. The fabric is really quite thin and light, and the color is so new and hopeful. It’s the perfect sock for those days when you think it’s warmer than it really is (like today, when temps didn’t climb out of the 50s).

Hmmm… what’s next?

A beautiful day for a festival…

You know, I’ve been going to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival for over a decade now. Let me think… The first time was when Pam and Dave took us, and that was pre-Boy 1. I learned to knit after that, when pregnant with Boy 1. So my first MDSW was probably in 2001. Here are some gratuitous shots of Boy 1 at the 2003 festival, when he was nearly one. What a cutie!

The weather can be just about anything during the first full weekend of May. There have been years when I underestimated my comfort level and had to buy a sweatshirt there. There have been years when I wore sandals and short pants, sweated buckets, and got a sunburn. This year was absolutely perfect: highs in the low 70s, sunny, and a slight breeze. Look at these people – they look comfortable and happy! I didn’t even think it was super crowded on Saturday this year. This year the carpool crew included me, Kris, Judy, and Barb. We met up with Jess there. Also Dave, our Gettysburgian friend now living in DC. And of course, Julie and Alison. I neglected to get a photo of all of us, but you’ll have to trust me that we were all there. Jess sported her new Spectra, bound off at midnight the night before: That’s made with Miss Babs yarn.

For lunch I actually ate something healthy this year. Traditionally, MDSW doesn’t cater to the vegetarian fairgoer. I usually pack some protein-rich snacks and plan to indulge in ice cream and kettle corn. Well, friends, I still indulged in ice cream and kettle corn, but I also had a VEGAN TAMALE. Yes, you heard me. There was a new food vendor this year!!!

You could choose a pasta salad or lime marinated cole slaw on the side. I got the slaw. Super delicious. The tamale included mushrooms, kale, and corn.But, there are traditions to uphold. Here’s Judy with a sausage sandwich: Dave’s big lace project is coming along. Check this out – we had to photograph it in sections, like a scroll:

We made sure to eat early, in time to get to the Great White Bale meetup with Clara Parkes and the other Great White Balers.

Proof! The crowd was full of fiber celebrities. Look, here are Sasha Torres (of the SpinDoctor podcast) and Deb Robson (author of the unparalleled The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook) just standing around with the gang:We also met Jill Draper of Jill Draper Makes Stuff, here sporting the Tripod shawl of her own design (which I quite like):Check out her tights! (The stitches are printed, not knitted.) Clara had a ball of yarn from Great White Bale Lot #1 with her and was handing out bits – here’s Judy with hers:

But I know you’re all waiting to see what I actually bought. Well… I got pretty darn excited about this bag of yarns from Miss Babs. I saw it hanging up as I approached the booth from the aisle and said “I don’t know what that is for, but I want it!” Then, conveniently, someone working in the booth walked up wearing the Albers Cowl (which the kit was designed to support) and that did me in. I got in line to pay for the yarn I was already clutching in my hands. You can totally understand why, though, right? These are MY COLORS: They came all packaged in a bag like this, which doesn’t photograph well because of the glare, but you get the idea…

Each little skein contains 133 yards (1.3 oz) and is 100% adorable.

I also bought some essential toiletries from Bar-Maids. I was happy to see a vendor carrying them, since I hadn’t seen Bar-Maids in person since Sock Summit in 2011. Why don’t more East Coast retailers carry them? I got a luxurious skein of cashmere/possum down laceweight. I have one pair of possum blend socks and they are among the warmest handknit socks I own, so I was very interested in knitting with possum again. (By the way, this New Zealand possum is not the same as our North American possum. The NZ critter is a non-native, invasive pest that is regularly hunted… this way, at least the fiber goes to good use.) I plan to make another pair of Plain Jhaynes from this wee 25 g ball: I got another skein of Zealana laceweight yarn, too, but this one is 40% merino, 30% organic cotton, and 30% possum. I figure I have lots of beads that match it, since it’s in my preferred palette (and so are my beads), and I can whip up some more of those addictive Laura Nelkin designs. And to round out the exotic single skein acquisitions, I got this ball of indigo-dyed yak yarn, which is from a sustainable employment project for women in Tibet. As a regular reader of Wild Fibers magazine, I was happy to be able to support one of the projects I read about there. I think this ball will become winter hats for my kids next year.

Finally, I had in mind that I wanted to buy some yarn to make Alana Dakos’s Twigs and Willows sweater from her new book, Botanical Knits. The pattern calls for Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter. I didn’t see any of that at the show, but I did pop by the Bartlett Yarns to see what they were up to (since they spun Great White Bale Lot #1). Their mill spins woolen-style yarns on a mule, and Shelter is a woolen yarn (though not spun on a mule). Their 2-ply worsted weight is very similar to Shelter, just a bit thicker (Bartlett’s is 210 yards to 4 oz, and Shelter is 140 yards to 50 g, which translates to about 316 yards to 113 g/4 oz, if I did the math right). Anyway, the STYLE of the Bartlett yarn is very much like Shelter, but it’s THICKER. The sweater is mostly stockinette with a fetching leaf motif along the neckline. Made in Bartlett, my leaves will be bigger proportionally than as they appear on the model.

I dithered over 5 different colors and settled on this lovely blue with hints of green and grey in it:

And as a festival bonus, I had a lovely chat with Mr. Lindsey Rice, owner of Bartlett Yarns, about buying American, how stuff is made, and growing general interest in the topic. This is one of the reasons I love a wool festival! I’ll leave you with a chuckle – here’s a sign I saw in one of the booths:All in all, it was another fantastic year at the festival. I feel so fortunate to live only 75 minutes away from this event and wouldn’t miss it for just about anything! Friends, I had a great time. Let’s do it again next year.

Yarn from afar

I apologize for the light posting as of late - I’ve been traveling and that cuts into knitting/blogging time. I am happy to report that I did indeed borrow Annette’s wool cards and got my first sample of Clara’s Great White Bale ready to spin (thanks again, Annette!). Each of these little fluffy rolls is called a rolag: You pull out fiber from the end and spin it. I got 6 of these from my single little ounce of fiber… just enough to spin and knit a small sample. I will try to finish that wee project soon! I wish you could touch this stuff… it’s amazingly soft. You can still see some bits of VM (vegetal matter). Some of that will fall out as I spin it, and other bits will probably wind up in the finished yarn.When I got back from my most recent trip yesterday, I found ANOTHER white mailer from Clara waiting for me. What was inside? Lots of stuff!These two skeins of yarn were spun at Bartlett in Maine. It is a woolen-spun two-ply. You can read more about this limited edition yarn in Ravelry. Also included was some carded fiber and a lovely blank book with the GWB logo on it. I’ve already decided to use one skein to knit Jane’s Thirty-Eight cowl. Doesn’t it look like the squishiest, softest thing you could EVER put around your neck?

And to finish the “yarn from afar” theme, I visited a very unique and somewhat famous (at least, it’s famous if you listen to the Stash & Burn podcast) LYS in downtown San Francisco: Artfibers. They dye all their own yarn (you won’t see a single familiar commercial ball band here) and the bases are very different. As you can tell by the photo above, they have many swatches in each yarn to show different stitches and colorways. All are meticulously labeled (be still my librarian heart). The drawers under the counter contain cones of yarn. You buy it by the yard.I was only able to get there about 20 minutes before closing, so I had to shop fast. This is difficult to do when you don’t know exactly what you want/need. I settled on some of this Ginko, a slinky bamboo-silk blend, in a color that is perfect for my mom (and one I almost never knit with): RED: This photo makes the red appear a bit more orange-y than it actually is. My mom lives in a pretty warm climate, so I’ll make a little shawlette/scarf number that she can wear in a couple of seasons. The shop was full of these posters with gorgeous photos of the different fibers. Very science-fair-y (but more sophisticated). This is the one for bamboo and silk, which I’ll post here since that’s what I ended up buying.Artfibers is big on the “yarn tasting” concept. If you have time (I didn’t), you can sit down and swatch with any yarn you want to, right by a big window overlooking downtown from the 3rd floor. I could have spent hours there.

I would have dearly loved to visit A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland, too, but I just wasn’t there long enough. I drooled all over their booth at both Sock Summits. But I was the only knitter in my group this time, so fiber field trips weren’t on the agenda. However, we did use our final afternoon to visit Muir Woods National Monument. I have always wanted to see the big trees (these are coast redwoods) and the place did not disappoint. It was magical. I will leave you with a few pictures from there, even though it’s not the kind of fiber you usually see from me…