Monthly Archives: October 2010

three.

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Hard to believe it has been three years since I jumped (fell?) into blogland, and without getting too mushy on y’all, allow me to just say that doing this, here, with you, has been more rewarding than I was even capable of imagining three Octobers ago.

One of the things I talked about in that very first post was how much I had learned from the online knitting community, and so it seems only fitting that as I celebrate my blogiversary, I am working on a testknit for someone whose blog was part of inspiring me to start blogging. (And she’s still teaching me new things!)

Here’s what I’ve got so far on my ripe bananas lap blanket testknit for Cosy. I was struggling with getting the lace to line up, and she helped me to see that I was knitting right, but reading wrong. (I was reading the chart as if it covered all the stitches, rather than exactly the number of stitches in each quadrant, despite all sorts of evidence on said chart suggesting how to understand it properly.)

Anyway, this morning I put the reading aside, and powered through a full lace repeat, happy to be “getting it” after lots of puzzling, unknitting, and re-knitting.

Thank you all for reading the blog, sharing your thoughts, and teaching me in so many ways. Here’s to another year!

picking (eating) apples.

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My account of our epic Sunday continues.

What began as a quick stop at an apple orchard for an apple cider doughnut or two turned into an hour or so of frolicking amidst the apple trees, some apple picking, lots of apple eating, and of course, two courses of the aforementioned doughnuts. (Two to start, two before leaving. I have no pictures of this part. They were just too good (and warm!) not to eat immediately.

A corridor of mutsus.

Macouns, clearly.

Us, eating apples.

Sigh. Hello, autumn.

Um, I want that one.

the cheese trail.

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Yesterday was an epic Sunday. I went to an early morning yoga class, where my teacher mentioned that in addition to an artists’ open studio event happening in and around town all weekend, that the local cheesemakers’ association was also inviting folks to visit their farms and taste the different kinds of locally-made cheeses. That was enough to rearrange the day. We hopped into the car and headed to farm country.

The trees everywhere were golden and honey-hued, and oh, the light! Yesterday was a clear day, and everything just looked warm. You know?

We met some cows. I think this one down in front is named Gina. At least that’s what her ear tag says. We learned about how local farmers make gouda and jack-style cheeses, learned about different ways of aging rounds or blocks of cheese, and tasted a generous amount at the two farms we visited. We settled on what I think is a raw milk cheddar, and a hunk of (local) beer-soaked, wood-aged gouda.

Last night for dinner, we might have just eaten cheese, bread, pickles, and some leftover coleslaw. But that’s because the cheese trail was only the beginning. (I’m going to break Sunday’s adventures into two posts. Stay tuned!)

lakeside.

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We spent Saturday afternoon by the lake, on a blanket, reading. Looks cozy, but actually it got pretty windy, and after an hour or so we retreated indoors for nachos. I rewarded myself with a margarita. See, all this is relevant because in these pictures, even though you can’t see it, there is yarn in my bag. Malabrigo, to be exact. And it is destined to become another windschief hat. This one’s for the boy.

I cast on with my coffee this morning, before my 8 am yoga class. The colorway is verdeazul, and already I love the combination of the malabrigo worsted and twisted rib — so squishy! I’m planning to curl up with Boh and the boy this evening and knit some more ribbing. After all, it is fall break…

just what i needed.

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That song by The Cars always makes me smile. Back in 2004, I found myself road-tripping across the country with a new colleague, en route to our new jobs as part of a youth voting initiative. Things that stand out from the drive? My first experiences with ‘driving’ stick (think me doing the driving, and my friend P. doing the shifting), and a lot of time spent trying to figure out what The Cars are actually saying after the line, “I guess you’re just what I needed.”

“I needed someone to –eed.” (The answer is that it alternates: feed and bleed.)

Anyway, I bring all of this up because Mary, a ravelry friend of mine, seemed to know just what I needed this week:

On Thursday, I returned home from campus to discover that she’d gifted me the pattern for Terra, a gorgeous shawl by Jared Flood designed to highlight his new yarn line, SHELTER.

After making it through what I absolutely needed to get done this week, I came home yesterday and spent some time indulging in a little daydreaming about what yarn to use for this absolutely stunning shawl, and I settled on some seafoamy green, tweedy Peace Fleece. And I can’t wait to cast on.

Mary, this was just what I needed this week. Thank you.

I also finally got around to winding yarn for the next sections of my ripe bananas lap blanket testknit (say that five times fast). Note that one of these balls is hand-wound — I think it took me awhile to get the rhythm of the niddy-noddy down, and some of my early skeins are twisted. I did some intense handspun wrangling to get all of this untangled and into a tidy ball. This kind of mindless task was also what I needed yesterday. So it’s cool.

Lastly, another action shot of my textured shawl recipe shawl. I do wish it was a little bigger, but it really is perfect for when I just need a little extra warmth on my walk to campus in the morning.

Alright, time to earn some more knitting and outside time by finishing off another book in the pile. Happy weekend!

hurdles.

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I followed your excellent advice, and thus, victory is mine. I located some leftover yarn, ripped back four or five rows, picked up the stitches, and re-knit the very top of the cuff. Because the needles I used the first time are otherwise occupied, I decided to use slightly larger dpns and just do a regular bind-off so that the cuff would match its partner.

Also, I finally managed to successfully cast on the baby blanket I am test-knitting for Cosy. I still haven’t decided which bit of handspun to use next, but I located some leftovers in a pale grey when I was digging for the yarn to do my sock repairs, and it seemed like the perfect shade for the blanket’s middle section. I had a bear of a time casting on — which I blame not at all on the pattern, but on the general fiddly-ness of casting on a small number of stitches on dpns to join in the round, and then managing a slew of markers in the early rows. I think I’m in the clear now, and I’m excited to keep increasing!

Time to pour the coffee and earn some knitting time by working through another book on the list. (Also, I’m bundled up in my Mara shawl and my legwarmers this morning. I love wrapping myself in handknits.)

FO: reflection.

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Swoon. 178 yards of some of the squishiest, evenest, prettiest 2-ply bfl I have ever spun.  So excited to get this in the mail to a dear friend. (This is Southern Cross Fibres bfl, from the July 2010 Fiber Club, in Reflection.) There are some leftovers on my bobbins, so I should have enough for a small skein to toss into my bag(s) o’ handspun for later. If that doesn’t make Monday just a bit more bearable, I don’t know what does.

FO: windschief hat.

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Last night I finished the windschief hat — and I absolutely love the asymmetry of the design and the stitch definition of this madelinetosh yarn. As you can probably tell, this hat isn’t for me (too big, and not necessarily a good match for my bouncy short hair — I think slouchier hats work better for me), but for a very dear friend with a new haircut and a few rounds of chemo in front of him. I’m hoping this provides warmth and comfort over the next month or so — you know, so I can continue to give him a hard time about everything else, like I always do!

Details: Windschief Hat, by Steven West, knit out of a bit more than half a skein of  madelinetosh tosh worsted (now I think this is called tosh dk), size Medium, using US size 6 and 7 needles, as directed. I knit to 6 inches instead of 5.5 inches before the decreases because the other Stephen West hat I knit (the botanic hat) seemed a bit small to me. I can’t say enough about how smart-looking this hat is. I think it’s a fantastic design and a fun knit that seems perfect for boys who don’t like fancy hats — and girls who like architectural details.

accidental socktober.

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So, remember how I started a pair of Gentleman’s Fancy Socks? In January? Well, they are no longer fancy. I was running out the door yesterday to head to an afternoon lecture, and realized that I didn’t have any lecture-appropriate knitting. (Read: simple, involving wooden needles, and able to keep me busy for two hours.) See, I’m decreasing for the crown of the windschief hat, which means that at any moment I’ll need to switch to DPNs — and the circ is metal. And it will take less than two hours. And I am on one of the counting rows of the Citron, and the lace yarn is so thin that I really have to squint at it. And I’m still increasing on Idlewood, and my Kerrera is languishing, waiting for me to pick up the sleeve stitches…

So there I was, surrounded by WIPs with nothing to knit. And then I remembered these socks. And decided that I would work on the ribbing, and if I got past that, they would just become simple, autumnal, stockinette socks. And despite the pooling (not sure if you can see that super clearly in the photo, but it’s there), I love them. I even want to go to more lectures so I can keep knitting on them.

And now I need some guidance:

I got pretty soaked walking home (even with my umbrella) on Thursday in some blustery, rainy weather. And I accidentally ripped the bind off of these socks (which is bit tight) in getting out of my wet clothes. What is the best way to repair this? I’m sure I can just secure these stitches with some sock yarn, but is there something else I should be considering?