Progress Report

There has been relatively little blogging lately due to holiday preparations and general busy-ness!  But there has been some knitting.  Here’s my update:

Big news first: Sharon’s Bada Bing sweater is done.  I had to rip out the neck and redo it because following the same seed stitch pattern I used at the waist just didn’t look right.  I did a standard stockinette stitch neckband and used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (JSSBO), and it looks pretty good.  Also, does anyone remember that this was supposed to be a v-neck?  I followed the more conservative v-neck instructions (for a less plunge-ful version) but it turned out to be a conservative scoop neck instead.  Well, live and learn!  I also had to rip out the sleeve cuffs because somehow, even after much measuring and fitting, the sleeves were several inches too short.  When I redid them, I followed the same edge pattern that I used on the neck.  The cuffs roll up a bit right now.  We might be able to make them behave by blocking – or we might not.  She doesn’t mind the rolling so I’m calling it done.  I’m terrified the whole thing will change size in the wash so we’re just not thinking about that right now.

I also finished this pair of socks, which is very plain (mostly stockinette) except for the arch shaping on the foot.  Look carefully – do you see the unusual lines running around the side and to the top of the foot near the toe?  This is a very interesting construction, and I cast on for another sock that uses it right away: Ahhh, Knit Picks Felici sock yarn.  I love you so.  This self-striping yarn will be perfect for a relatively simple sock (just the unusual arch shaping to content with, but it’s my second time with the pattern) to knit on my journey to Texas.  The colors are so warm and cheery – but not too dark.  Dark yarn is always difficult to see but especially so when traveling.  I think the person who picked Knit Picks circular needle cable color designed this Felici colorway – they coordinate perfectly!

I planned to knit Amy King’s Guernsey Socks pattern (from The Knitter’s Book of Yarn) using the 100% Icelandic yarn I got at Knitters’ Day Out last September.  I wound the yarn and did some swatching at knitting group on Wednesday.  I don’t think it’s going to work out.  Perhaps not at all, but definitely not for travel knitting.  So I’m putting aside that pretty grey yarn (for now) and I wound up this Wollmeise that I won in a Loopy Ewe contest a while back.  Sharon says she is always wishing she had red socks in a more pinky-red rather than orangey-red, and this yarn fits the bill.  I will reknit a simple pattern that I’ve done before with this yarn – remember my green zebra socks?  Charade is the official name of the pattern.

So that is 2 sock projects for the trip.  The other thing I decided to take is my spindle and some fiber.  Now that the holiday knitting is done, I want to focus more on spinning.  I know I need to log 15-30 minutes a day with the spindle to develop the fine muscle control I need to become natural at this, and I thought the vacation might be just the time to start my new exercise regimen. And now, we just hope that the snowstorm headed this way doesn’t delay our flight out.  I’ll be knitting my stress away!

KDO 2009

Another year of Knitters’ Day Out is complete!

Kris and I began the weekend with a Knitters’ NIGHT Out.  We ate at Cedars Restaurant in Camp Hill and enjoyed a lovely array of mezza dishes.  Unfortunately, I did not photograph them.  Trust me, they were both beautiful and delicious.  Then we headed to KDO to register and visit the marketplace.  At registration, we learned that everyone won a door prize this year.  I got lucky and won this set of plastic needles in sizes 8-10.5.  These will be perfect for teaching kids.  I’ve already lost most of my straight Brittany needles to beginner knitters who never return them.  This is a very useful door prize for me!

Kris had never seen a sock knitting machine before.  This one as at the Knitters Dream booth.  Fascinating! I ended up picking up a few small things at the market:

- a cute little book from Regia called Flusi and the Sock Yarn (it goes with their new line of sock yarns for kids, which I resisted as I have plenty of stash) – cute illustrations that might make kids ask you to knit socks for them! - a sock pattern that I picked up at The Mannings booth (they had two different samples knitted up that were quite striking, and I thought this would be a great way to knit down some of my handpainted sock yarn):- some 2-ply yarn from Icelandic sheep from Cedarland Farm in Delta, PA (south of Lancaster near the Maryland line, about 60 miles east of Gettysburg).  This is 100% Icelandic wool in its natural color, but I think it will be plenty strong for socks: On Saturday morning, I took Merike Saarniit’s Patent Stitches class.  Patent stitches are a group of Estonian stitches that use a lot of yarn (the patent stitch is composed of a pair of loops over the needle) and which create a really squishy fabric.  Often, garments made from patent stitching were fulled, which made them warmer (Estonia is a very cold place).  The patent stitching creates a more flexible fulled fabric than felted stockinette.

Here are some of the sample garments Merike brought to show.  See the hat knit in orange and blue/purple?  I loved that stitch (the Two Color Full Patent) so much that I bought some Malabrigo Worsted to try making a hat using it.  I offered to knit Ed a hat when I was in Portland last month, and he requested “green.”  I think these two greens together will still be neutral enough to suit his taste. Here is the patent stitch sampler we made in class: I was much more enamored of patent stitches than I expected to be.  They are enticingly squishy, and many of them require no purling, even though they look like ribbing.  The Pearl Patent, for example, creates a dimensional nubbly pattern that gives me the same visual and tactile satisfaction as moss or seed stitch, but it would knit up soooooo much more quickly because it’s all knitting and is knit over fewer stitches.  I plan to knit the hat mentioned above as well as a pair of socks that uses patent stitches on the leg.  Merike recommended reducing the number of stitches considerably, as this fabric is very stretchy.

After a lovely lunch spent catching up with Kris, Julie, and Alison (Julie’s sister, who usually joins her for this event), I hopped off to my afternoon class on ribbing.  We created the following sampler of different rib stitches: This session served to remind me that one should always question the basic 1x1 or 2x2 rib when it is called for in a pattern.  Why go plain if you can go fancy?

Another fun year!