Category Archives: knitting

pedaling/treadling.

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Yesterday I finished plying the Spunky Club corriedale in New Day. This stuff is hanging to dry, and should be all done by the time I get back from morning yoga today.

And this stuff — well, it just called to me yesterday. This is the first bobbin of Pigeonroof Studios Merino in the Chard colorway.

And this is the second bobbin. This stuff really did spin itself, and I am excited for the squishy 2-ply it will become.

Remember that huge skein of Eco-wool I had on the swift the other day? It is destined to become a Hemlock Ring blanket. Jodi of A Caffeinated Yarn and I are doing a mini-KAL, and already I’m convinced that this project is building my lace confidence. So nice to knit lace on size 10.5 needles! I recognize that this picture doesn’t necessarily reveal ANYTHING about the pattern, but I’m a bit further along now, at row 30. I am just about ready to transfer this to circulars, and then it will be both faster to knit on, and easier to conceptualize. I’ll snap more pictures.

And then there’s this guy. He didn’t do much of anything yesterday…except demonstrate that he really is long enough to take up the entire couch. That’s my dog!

FO: garland.

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This is 268 yards of dk-weight navajo-plied Hello Yarn targhee in garland. This isn’t the whole four ounces — more like 3.25, I think. I filled a bobbin, let it rest, and started plying, and I’m not sure if I’ll make another mini-skein just like this, or save the fraction of an ounce for an all-mixed-up leftovers skein. I love this, and I’m starting to feel like I’m getting the hang of navajo-plying! Hooray! (Also, I’m still getting to know my camera, and these definitely don’t do the skein justice.)

Look! A reorganized spinning corner! I walked by this desk on Monday — it was about two blocks from my house. And then I backed up, picked it up, and carried it home. It fits perfectly into this little nook between the door and the heater, and now there is more storage space and work space in my apartment.

This is Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club corriedale in the New Day colorway. When I finished the garland, I just had to get something else started on the wheel…and suddenly I had two bobbins of this stuff. Planning to sit down and ply right after I finishing posting!

Yesterday was farm share pick-up day, and I gathered a whole bag of flowers in the fields. I love being able to fill my apartment with flowers I’ve picked myself.

And I’m knitting something new! More on this project next time.

red.

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Enter my new camera. The old one, which, for the record, I’ve had to alternately shake/smack to get it to turn on for the last two years, up and died yesterday. I thought maybe it was the heat, but I tried every trick last night and this morning, and still, nothing. We’ve had a good run. Unfortunately, my life has become a money pit lately, and this didn’t help. (I may have spent the first hour of my day at the Honda service center in order to determine if the check engine light refers to something that impacts the overall drive-ability of my car. It doesn’t, so my plans for a weekend road trip are still on, which is good. The not-so-good? I will have to replace an oxygen sensor before my car’s next inspection. Oh, and I have a strut that should be replaced eventually. Can I apply for a fellowship to help with that? Ha.)

Anyway, it wasn’t until I opened the box that I realized my new camera is red! And I like it! Basically, I was looking for something that has a solid lens, wasn’t super expensive, had macro-capabilities, and used as much of the stuff from my old camera as possible, so I stuck with Sony. I can use the same memory cards, which is nice, but the battery for this baby is about half the thickness of the old ones.

Here’s where I was on Day 5 of the tour with my garland targhee singles. I’m going to try to spin a bit more tonight before Boh and I hit the road in the morning.

My textured shawl. I’m taking this with me — we’re off to see the friend who gifted me this fiber!

And a gratuitous zinnia shot to kick off the weekend!

the tour.

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I’m actually planning to be near my wheel for most of the Tour de Fleece this year, so I’m in. Not that I was able to decide ahead of time what to spin — my options felt sort of overwhelming. After doing most of my cleaning and unpacking, I sat down to catch up on Ravelry, and was so inspired by the prettiness in all of the tour threads that I put a new bobbin on the wheel and started spinning.

This is Hello Yarn targhee in the garland colorway. I’m spinning thinnish singles that I’m planning to navajo-ply. This first picture is what I had last night. (I may have stayed up slightly past my bedtime to post this in the TdF threads before midnight.)

This is my bobbin around mid-morning.

And here it is after a bit more spinning this afternoon. I love watching each bright color appear!

Here’s one more shot of the bobbin — note what appears to be an enormous bug at the upper left. After uploading these photos, I went back to the wheel, and the bug was still there. Nowhere near as large in real life, but I encouraged him to find a new perch all the same.

I finally cast on for my textured shawl recipe shawl, and made some serious progress while catching up on the final episodes of The Good Wife and hiding from the heat! I’m using a handspun 2-ply made out of this gorgeous green wool from Friends’ Folly Farm. I only have about 257 yards, so we’ll see how big it gets. I might think about a contrasting border, a la some of brokeknits’ most recent projects.

Plus, blackberry muffins were made (with last season’s berries). Along with a bunch of pesto-minus-the-parmesan that went straight into the freezer.

Whew! We are going to sleep well tonight! (Who am I kidding? Boh is already asleep.)

FO: wedding pinwheel #4.

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As you may have gathered from these pictures, I finished the pinwheel with enough time to block it out before I headed home for my cousin’s wedding. (Hooray!) I’m really happy with how this turned out — and I haven’t forgotten my daydreams of knitting one (out of handspun?) for me! It took about 2.5 skeins of Cascade 220 on size 7 needles.

I decided not to worry about my citron, and instead, I spent my non-work time last week with the boy. He left this morning to spend the month at home across the Atlantic, and I returned from visiting my family this afternoon.

Stay tuned for some spinning — it is Tour de Fleece time, and I’m planning to spin as much as I can (while still getting my reading done!) on the days I’ll be in town.

bachelor buttons and wedding pinwheels.

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Bachelor buttons in the late afternoon.

One and a half rows to go on the wedding pinwheel. (I will finish it today. I must, if I’m going to block it before I head home for the wedding!)

Tuesday = farm day. Thus, my kitchen overflows with flowers.

If I were to hang this photo on the wall, its caption would read: Pesto. Soon.

The boy and I picked about 12 pounds of sugar snap peas today…and ingested another pound or so, I’d imagine. After a string of hot, humid, sticky days, today was perfect. Breezy, partly sunny, and cool. An afternoon in the pea patch followed a morning spent with my friend T. picking strawberries on the second last day of the season.

A perfect day. These are destined to become jam.

I love summer.

And now, back to that pinwheel.

pesto makes everything better.

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I made a jar of homemade pesto on Tuesday morning, and yesterday, as soon as I had finished ripping out my ishbel and posting the sad photos here, I made a beeline for the stuff. Pesto makes everything better.

Boh and I took a nice, slow walk yesterday morning — extra slow, because this rooster pulled a hamstring in last weekend’s soccer match. Boh waited patiently while I photographed neighborhood flowers with my phone. Aren’t they lovely?

When I look at this photo I hear: “Now wait just a minute young lady…”

And this one! What a ham! Thank goodness for a decent camera phone.

And now, since this purports to be a knitting blog, I give you my citron. I’m in the middle of section 4, and I’m planning to add a few more sections to make a more substantial shawl. I spent a few hours on this last night while catching up on podcasts, and fell in love with it all over again. I intend to work only on this and the pinwheel for the next week, in hopes that I’ll finish both in time for the wedding. I’m counting on Boh to keep me on track.

lace FAIL.

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This morning I sat down with my first cup of coffee and replied to all of your thoughtful comments and advice about lace knitting. And then I picked up ishbel, determined to finish the second chart. I knit another row, and then realized that it just didn’t look right. And so, I ripped. And when I got back to the stockinette portion, I realized I just did not have the patience to pick up 200+ stitches and get them all back on the needle facing the right way. So I just kept ripping.

These photos are from my phone — I didn’t have the energy to get up off the couch to get the camera in order to photograph my failure — but on the whole, I’m in good spirits. One less project on the needles for now, and I’ll be back. There is plenty of lace knitting in my future…but next time I’ll use a lifeline!

Time to get to work!

ishbel revisited.

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Hey, remember when I was afraid of lace? Well, I’m working on that. This week I dug out my ishbel, and started the lace section. I may have had a slight freak-out when my count was off by one at the end of the first chart, but after lots of squinting at my shawl, I’m pretty sure I did something silly near the edging, because everything *seems* to be lined up in the body of the lace section. So I k2tog’ed the offending stitch, and moved onto chart B. Fingers crossed that everything will turn out…

Also, I picked a few more quarts of sugar snap peas, and turned some of them into these most delicious, incredibly simple pickled sugar snap peas again this year. Yum.

The pinwheel blanket has entered blob-land, and I’m well into the second skein. Hoping to keep cranking away on this so that it is done long before the wedding (on July 2).

Boh in a blanket. Or in more traditional dress, depending on your reading of this photograph. This look really seems to highlight Boh’s soulful eyes.

Alright, time to get to work!

sensing a theme.

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“Boh wants to go shopping.” (Clearly. Because he’s wearing a hat, a scarf, a down vest, and has a canvas tote bag on his arm.) I don’t think Boh would tolerate this from me, but he really likes the boy. And so, as you can see here, yesterday he got ready to go shopping.

It is so hard to be a big dog.

Oh, right. Some knitting! After finishing yesterday’s book, I realized that I really should cast on the pinwheel blanket I am planning to give my cousin on the occasion of her wedding, which is in a few weeks. I’m using Cascade 220 and size 7 needles. (Note to self: dedicate some time to citron, too!) I watched the pilot of Arrested Development (how have I not seen this show?) and listened to a few podcasts, and miraculously the fiddly mess that is this pattern in its earliest stages began to look like a real pinwheel. It took three tries for me to get this started — I’m not sure joining 5 stitches in the round will ever get easier!

Boh and I have plans for a woodsy walk with his best friend (and one of mine) later in the day. Happy Friday!