Category Archives: knitting

singles and shawl progress.

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alpinebob1

Bobbin 1 of the Hello Yarn romney in Alpine.

bob2alpineprog

alpinebob2

Bobbin 2, first in progress, because I thought I was going to stop, and then, in the second picture, finished. This stuff spins itself. I may cheat a little bit and ply later tonight instead of letting the singles rest a full day, We’ll see.

heathershawledge

The wedding is next Saturday, a week from today. I decided on two leaf pattern repeats (I think the last time I blogged about this, I was thinking about doing three), and this morning I began the edging. I’m 8 rows into 34, and I absolutely love how this is turning out. If I work steadily on this over the next few days,  I won’t have to stay up late and risk making stupid, bleary-eyed mistakes. My goal is to block this on Wednesday night, so that it has ample time to dry before I deliver it to the bride on Friday.

While I was working on the romney and the shawl, Boh was standing guard at the window:

longdogwindow

He really is a surprisingly long dog — I marvel at his length whenever I find him at the window like this, paws up on the radiator.

morepouting

Apparently surveying the backyard is pretty exhausting work. (There is loud snoring drifting towards my desk from the bedroom.) May your Saturday be as productive and restful as Boh’s!

sauerkraut!

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kraut1

kraut2

kraut3

It is delicious. Victory! I let this sit on the counter in my one-gallon pickling crock for 5 weeks (7/18-8/25), occasionally skimming off anything that formed on the surface, and rinsing the cheesecloth and brine bag weighting down the cabbage.

It might be time to go looking for really good reuben recipes!

farmflowers

Here are some of the flowers I picked at the farm yesterday, along with my haul of tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, A LOT of beets (to be pickled?!), lettuce, onions, dill, mint, basil, cilantro, 1 precious cup of blackberries picked from the fields, and, of course, zucchini.

And, lest you think that I am not knitting:

plainsimpleupdate

Another inch or so of my plain and simple pullover test-knit has appeared.

Happy Wednesday!

banditry.

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hshawl1

H’s wedding shawl (an ishbel/springtime bandit hybrid inspired by brokeknits) is coming along. Yesterday I finished one repeat of the leaf pattern, and decided to do another. I have plenty of yarn, so think I am going to aim for 3 leaf pattern repeats before I begin the edging.

hshawl2

hshawl3

I know I’ve written about my lace anxiety here, and I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of you for your encouraging words and happy thoughts. You’re right — it isn’t so bad! (And I’m saying this after spending much of yesterday morning ripping back about an hour’s worth of work to find an error.) You heard it here first: I like lace knitting!

hshawl4

The wedding is in 2 weeks, and I’m aiming to have this ready to block by September 1. Back to it!

plain and simple progress.

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pureandsimple 7 inc

I am now seven inches into the body of my plain and simple pullover, a test-knit for veera over at 100% rain. I reach for this sweater whenever I need mindless knitting, and while I normally prefer my knitpicks harmony needles, I am really loving the slipperiness and the soft clicking sounds of these hot pink metal needles (courtesy of the Yarn Pirate, from when I was in the sock club).

Happy weekend! (Classes start next week, so these are my final days of summer.)

Classes

blurry.

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sunset2041

sunset2042

Apologies if these make you dizzy. Yesterday was a blurry kind of day, so it seems only fitting that the pictures I attempted to take of a stunning sunset turned out this way. (It probably didn’t help that I was fresh out of the shower, still in the process of getting dressed, and therefore more than a little exposed to a backyard mob of mosquitoes that made keeping the camera steady more than slightly difficult.)

A bit of a sock is all I’ve got for you today:

sock2inpr

Oh — and my bat came back last night for round 3. My landlord will be here in half an hour to strategize. Hope your day is bat-free!

slow.

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Do you have those days that seem to take forever to progress? Yesterday was that kind of day. I tried to fill the hours, but the time refused to pass.

All of that changed just before evening, when I ran into a friend on the street, finally started another book, met friends from out of town for a great dinner, relaxed with the dog, and (wait for it) chased our friend, the bat, out of my apartment with a broom around midnight.

cofeebydesk

An incredible lightning storm and the ruminations of my brain kept me up quite late last night, so the morning’s cup of coffee must again feature prominently in today’s post.

More glimpses of yesterday:

undergrowthprewash

undergrowthonboh

I finished spinning and plying the AVFKW falklands fiber in the silent undergrowth colorway, but I couldn’t capture the depth of the browns and greens with yesterday’s overcast sky (even with the change of background.) The skein is still hanging to dry — I’ll try again tomorrow.

vanillatoe2prog

worriedonbed

A bit more of the toe of my second vanilla sock, and a particularly concerned Boh. It must be Monday…

the silent undergrowth.

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plantations1

Boh and I took a walk through the campus arboretum yesterday, accompanied only by the sound of the wind and the hum of bees conducting their business.

plantations2

plantations3

plantations4

plantations5

plantations6

plantations7

A collection of nut trees lines the road to the central part of the sprawling, manicured landscape. Tucked into a string of walnut trees, this particular cluster caught my eye. This tree, like the others, had a small tin tag pegged to its trunk: Japanese heartnut. The name made me smile.

fiberinbowl

When we returned home (our muscles sufficiently stretched), it was time to start a new spinning project, and this fiber seemed appropriate to the moment: The Silent Undergrowth, 3 oz. of Falklands from AVFKW. The colors are hard to capture on camera, but there is a lovely depth to the range of browns and greens in this fiber.

falklandsbob1

Also, here’s an update on my alpaca test-knitting:

pureandsimple1

pureandsimplemacro

I’m approaching four inches on the body, and while this will not be a quick knit, I love how this feels in my hands.

Also:

lovethisdog.

I love this dog.

Happy weekend, all.

a special shawl, another sock.

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heathermalabrigo

One of my favorite people here in New Home is getting married next month. Remember that first pinwheel blanket I knit as a wedding present? It went to the folks who hosted me when I came to visit last spring. Apparently, when H. saw this blanket last summer, she said something like, “Where did that come from?” And when they replied that I had made it for their wedding, she responded, “Well, I want to get married if it means Rooster will knit me a lap blanket!” With this in mind, I asked H. for a few color suggestions, as they are moving into a new-to-them home this month.

Last week, H. asked if, instead of the blanket, I might be willing to knit her something to wear at the outdoor reception as the sun goes down. She came over to look at patterns and yarn, and we settled on this deep purple malabrigo sock yarn to go with her pale grey dress and soon-to-be husband’s purple tie.

This means I’ve cast on yet another project — and this one has a firm deadline! Here’s what I’ve got so far:

hshawl

I’m knitting a modified springtime bandit, following the brilliant mods of brokeknits: fingering weight yarn, plain triangle shawl to start, and then the leaf pattern and edging. You can see hers here — and I highly recommend taking a look. I have been drooling over her version from the moment she posted it on her blog!

I’m honored to be able to do this for H., and I hope the knitting goes smoothly. I’m aiming to be done with the knitting by September 1, which gives me time to block it before the wedding on the 5th.

diamondguernseytoe

Also, last night I cast on another sock. I know, I know, I didn’t finish the on-holds by the end of July, but I need to catch up, right? These are the Diamond Gansey Socks from Socks from the Toe Up — the August selection for the KAL — and I am using Araucania Ranco in a pale blue, with a size US 1 needle, magic loop.

bohlooksaway

When Boh saw what I had done, he looked away in disappointment and disgust. I know he doesn’t think I can get back on track with the KAL and finish these socks on time. I’ll just have to try to prove him wrong.

One more photo on this fine Monday morning:

lsd bob3

I’m into my third bobbin of the Crown Mountain Farms SW Merino in Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, which means I should be able to turn this into a 3-ply by the end of the week.

Which only means more socks, of course! Boh is glaring at me from his perch on the couch…

dilly beans and diamonds.

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dillybeans

I’ve been meaning to try my hand at dilly beans every day this week, so this morning, I got right to it. I even filled up the canning pot and put it on the stove alongside the water intended for my french press. The lids have been going “ping” — a good sign — so we’ll see how these turn out once they’ve had a few weeks to pickle themselves. (I learned that head-space can be a little tricky when you’re packing something into a pint jar and then pouring boiling liquid over it…)

lsd bob1

And for the “diamonds” portion of the post, I present bobbin numero uno of the CMF SW Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds merino. I’d abbreviate the song title, but I’m not sure I want to generate that kind of blog traffic…

I absolutely adore how this is spinning up, and I’m interested to see what the yarn will look like when it has been plyed and finished. I’ve read that this particular roving will plump up quite nicely, and I’m aiming for a squishier, slightly thicker sock yarn than last time.

Other goings-on around here:

zucchini bread

The first zucchini bread of the season!

pure and simple ribbing

The ribbing at the bottom of the pure and simple test-knit I’m working on!

That’s all for now! Boh and I have plans to take a long walk and stick our paws/feet in the creek, and I’m looking forward to a quiet, productive August (holy cow!) weekend.