Pamuya!

Guess what is finally done?

The Pamuya shawl I made my mom for Christmas this year is off the needles and blocked!  With Nathalie’s help, I finally got some decent shots of it.  Look how stylishly my French friend models a shawl: I hardly know what to do with a shawl, but she instantly looks elegant, even in a Sunday tee and shorts.

I ran out of yarn and had to leave the last two rows off.  Can you tell?  The scalloped edge is the bindoff:I used the same stretchy bindoff specified in the Sugared Violets shawl (*K2tog tbl, slip st back to left needle*), which seems to eat up some extra yarn but is worth it.  I used every last inch of two balls of Brooks Farm Solo Silk.  I ran out with about 20 stitches left to bind off. Luckily, the tail where I changed balls was rather long, so I scavenged from it.The whole thing is 6 feet long on the long side, and 45” long on each of the scallopy edges.  It took me a couple of months to finish, but that was with Sock Summit and some other projects along the way. This is a very nice pattern.  I highly recommend it.  I’ll put this in the Christmas pile…(making sure to hide it from Nathalie, who rather liked it)

Smiley Shawl

I started a Pamuya shawl for my mom yesterday. I got this yarn at MDSW in May, specifically for this pattern.  The yarn is Brooks Farm Solo Silk – the same yarn I used for Karen’s Cedar Leaf Shawlette, just a different colorway.  The Pamuya pattern is written for fingering weight yarn and this is a bit bigger (the label says “sport”), so I increased my needle size to US 6.  So far, so good!

This pattern is essentially a sampler.  If you look closely, you can see I’ve just begun the first section of what the designer calls “tiny cross pattern” I was thinking of taking this along to Portland as my airplane knitting project, but I can find something that will take up less space instead.

MORE Cedar Leaf!

I told you this pattern was spreading likes weeds… here is my friend Kris’s Cedar Leaf Shawlette – in a gorgeous green. Kris bought the same Brooks Farm Solo Silk that I did at MDSW’11.  The colorways at Brooks Farm are not named or numbered, as far as I can tell.  This is such a moody green, with grey and blue undertones.  Kris knit this up and gifted it to a May graduate. Isn’t she gorgeous?  This color is perfect on her! I have a feeling I’ll be knitting this pattern again at some point, too.  Wouldn’t it look great in come autumnal leafy colorways, like Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in “Foliage”?  I’ve already made some socks from Foliage and I really loved the yarn.

One last shot of Kris’s shawlette…

Another spring shawlette

These things are popping up like weeds… I made another Cedar Leaf Shawlette for my colleague, Karen, who is retiring this month: The yarn is Brooks Farm Solo Silk, a single ply of silk and fine wool (50/50).  It is lovely. Knit on a size 5 needle, there is plenty of drape in this.The leaf edging is very entertaining to knit, and the perfect detail on an otherwise simple crescent-shaped scarf. I hope Karen loves it.  We will miss her tremendously at the library.

Book review: The Joy of Sox

I haven’t accomplished a ton of knitting this week… the weather was quite good and so I spent a lot more time than usual outdoors trying to get the yard into shape for spring.  The weeds grow so quickly!  However, I did manage to cast on for another Cedar Leaf Shawlette, and as of last night, the stockinette portion is done.  I’ll take this with me on the airplane today and get started on the leaves:

This photo doesn’t quite do justice to the true color of this yarn – it’s a bit washed out here.  I’ll get a better one when the project is finished. This is a retirement gift for a colleague and I hope to have it done for the reception.

I have a small stack of books I’ve been meaning to tell you about.  I recently succumbed to The Joy of Sox.  I kept seeing patterns from this book pop up that I liked, and when I had a 50% off coupon and saw it at AC Moore, I jumped. 

I can take or leave the whole “sexy socks” theme – it is minorly amusing.  But let me show you the 7 (yes, seven) patterns I queued!

A Roll in the Hay (by Gina House), above, is a good pattern for a solid or semi-solid yarn.  It features wheat sheaves as the major design element, and some ribbing and seed stitch to fill in the blanks.  Very attractive.

Make-Up Socks (by Kristin Kapur) is another good choice for a solid or semi-solid yarn and was already in my Ravelry queue before I bought the book. It has some climbing vines that are quite fetching.  I could use my green Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine for these…

Royal Flush (by Mona Schmidt) is another good choice for a solid yarn (hmmm, I’m sensing a theme here).  The traveling twisted stitches up the sides remind me of DNA models.   These would require a lot of concentration – definitely not office knitting.  I couldn’t find a photo to snag so you’ll have to click through to Ravelry to see these lovelies.

Girl’s Best Friend Thigh Highs (by Star Athena) have always intrigued me.  I’m not sure why – I’m not a thigh-high kind of girl.  I don’t wear snazzy short skirts with tights and boots in the winter, for which socks like these would be perfect.  But I like them just the same – aren’t the diamonds fun?  So there.  Perhaps I could make a knee-high version.  Again, no easy photo to snag, so click through to Ravelry.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers (by Janine le Cras), above, is another stitch show-off pattern best for a solid yarn.  This one features a heart-like cable that I actually like.  Most of the heart cables look cheesy to me.  Perhaps a contender for a Valentine’s Day knit in 2012?

Warm Up Socks (by Sauniell Connally) is one I looked at for quite a while, trying to decide if I liked them or not.  There is a fishnet-like panel in these and normally I’m not a lacy sock person.  But something about these intrigues me…  Even the Ravelry photo isn’t great because the sock is shown on blockers rather than a foot, but the one in the book is fetching.  (Why doesn’t the publisher always submit photos to Ravelry? I don’t know!)

And finally, Sole Mates (by Alyson Johnson) is a good choice for semi-solid or solid yarn.  The cable down the back of the sock is lovely, and it extends onto the heel flap.  I’d want to wear these with open-heeled shoes to show that off. Do click through to Ravelry to see the detail!

This book also contains some instructional content that would be helpful for a newer sock knitter, as well as some “knitty bits” panels sprinkled throughout the book with interesting facts – like showing off one hand-dyed yarn knit up in stockinette, ribbing, lace, and cable – the yarn looks sooooo different!  The book has a hard cover with a spiral binding – my favorite package for knitting books.  If I really make all 7 of these patterns, it will have been quite a bargain!

MDSW 2011!

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was a ton of fun this year.  I went on Saturday with Kris, Jess, and Judy.  It was Judy’s first time at MDSW and it’s always so much fun to experience it again through virginal eyes.  MDSW really is quite a festival.

We started in the main barn and bumped in Clara Parkes early on.  She was so kind and we chatted for a few minutes.  She even let me take her picture with Judy and Kris:Don’t you love the expression on Kris’s face?  It’s something like “omg, I’m so close to Clara Parkes that I can touch her!”  Kris and I are both signed up for a class with Clara at Sock Summit later this summer.

The weather was perfect this year – mostly sunny, breezy, high around 70.  I also thought it wasn’t nearly as crowded as last year, when it was so much hotter. This photo was taken about 10;45 am outside the t-shirt barn – this is the main thoroughfare that leads to the biggest food stands.  See?  There was room to walk!We stopped for our first snack break about 11:00 and met up with Julie and her sister Allison, who always comes down from Brooklyn for the Fest.  Everyone shows off some stuff they’ve already acquired. From left: Julie, Allison, Kris: And here are Jess and Judy. Yarn and funnel cake: the perfect combination!

Julie made an interesting purchase.  She spied a hard-to-find book on display and asked if she could buy it.  The exhibitor said “but this is an archaeology book, and it’s in Spanish,” and Julie of course replied “that’s okay – I’m an archaeologist and my field work is in Honduras.”  She was tickled to get the book.

In the afternoon, the crowds intensified – you can see here the swell of people headed toward the food area (we’re returning from the corral area):The animals were as charming as ever – here are some alpaca: I saw a 6-day-old Clun Forest lamb being bottle fed in the Breed Display barn.  It’s always a good idea to take a turn through the barns when the yarn booths get to be too intense.

Here is an interesting way to weave that I hadn’t seen before: This woman sported some new earrings with mini-skeins on them: We also met our buddy Dave who had come up from DC with his friend Jordan – they are both Gettysburg alumni so it was fun to chat a while.  Dave just finished his master’s in education and rewarded himself by coming to the Festival!

So what did I come home with?  I’ll flash.

First, even though I said I wasn’t really in the market for more fiber because I haven’t spun enough of what I bought last year, the first thing I bought was fiber.  I got 8 oz of this 75/25 BFL/tussah silk roving in a gorgeous teal color: From the same vendor (Bullen’s Wullens in Ohio) I also got 4 oz of this 50/25/25 merino/bamboo/silk blend: The roving above is more green than grey, but the stone on which I photographed it really emphasized the grey parts.  I got that because I’ve never spun bamboo and these hand-dyed rovings really appealed to me.

Next up, I got this wee 25 g skein of Yakaboo (200 yards, 40/40/20 yak/merino/bamboo).  It is a 2-ply yarn that’s definitely thinner than fingering so I suppose it’s laceweight, but it seems a little thick for true lace.It’s from Still River Mill in Connecticut, which did a great job of displaying knit samples of every unique yarn in their booth.  I got a free pattern for some fingerless gloves that can be made from this one little skein. The pattern isn’t in Ravelry so now I wish I had taken a photo at the booth, but you’ll see the finished product when I knit it!  This naturally colored yarn is sooooooooo soft.

I made my final yarn purchases at the Brooks Farm booth.  I have drooled over their yarn for years but never bought any, mostly because they don’t make a really good sock yarn and I guess I’ve been pretty obsessed with socks for many years now.  But this year I got yarn for two projects here. 

This is Solo silk, a singles yarn that is 50/50 fine wool and silk.  I got one skein (400 yards, 4 oz) in this gorgeous periwinkle color to make another Cedar Leaf Shawlette for my colleague Karen, who is retiring at the end of this month.We had a little consultation about retirement knitting last week and she suggested this pattern (which I’ve worn a few times) in a different color.  I made her some Fetching mitts years ago and she said “this is just about the most perfect color in the world.”  So I took a sample with me (how can you argue with a color description like that?) and it matches this yarn beautifully.  I went ahead and wound up this yarn on Saturday night and cast on for another Cedar Leaf Shawlette.  It’s lovely.

I ended up buying the same Solo yarn in a different colorway for my mom’s Pamuya shawl:

It contains blue, purple, and green – should be pretty.

The only other thing I picked up was a copy of Interweave’s new Knit & Spin magazine.  And some kettle corn.  And an ice cream cone.

I had such a wonderful time – thanks, ladies!