Beginning to think about holiday knitting

October has barely begun, the trees are just starting to turn, and I'm realizing that there's something like 2-1/2 months until Christmas. And I'm panicking a little. You see, I had the ridiculous idea that it would be nice if I knit up some cute little owls as stocking stuffers for my nieces and nephews. I'm using the Big, Snowy Owl pattern from the Purl Bee, but I'm doing it in fingering-weight yarn. I don't think it will take too long to finish each owl, but however long it takes, I hope to finish 24 of them in time for Christmas.

I've also been making progress with the Scylla socks for my husband. This has been a nice, simple knit, perfect for my morning commute. I started the gussets this afternoon, so at this pace, I hope to finish these socks by the middle of next week or so. Once the yarn for my father-in-law's socks arrives, I'll get going on those.

The Columbines needlepoint is coming along nicely. I've finished all the foreground stitching and just have the miles of background stitches and the border stitching to do. There's no hurry on this project, so if I have to, I can set it aside. It's been a nice change of pace from all the knitting I've been doing, but I'm definitely a better knitter than I am a needlepointer. Maybe after Christmas I can focus on getting better at needlepoint?

Anyway, that's all I have for tonight. Until next time, Friends.

So, I started a pair of socks.

Like that's a surprise to anyone. After finishing my mother-in-law's Veil of Rosebuds, I was looking for another good commuting project. Since I didn't have the yarn to make Salted Caramels for my father-in-law, I decided to start some socks for my husband. He's been getting a lot of wear out of the Milo socks I made for him almost two years ago (!), so I thought it was high time he got another.

When we were looking through my stash for yarn for his dad's socks, he remarked that he liked the skein of Miss Babs' Windsor Sock yarn that I'd bought last year at Sock Summit. It's a good thing I bought that with him in mind! The colorway is called "Frankensock," which has a lot of lovely greens and blues and black. It's definitely a high-contrast hand-dyed yarn, so I was pretty careful about which pattern I was going to use with it.

After considering lots of patterns, I ended up deciding on Scylla by Fiona Lucas. It's a nice slipped-stitch pattern, with a little bit of texture thrown in to keep it interesting. It's knitting up pretty quickly, which will come in handy as it starts getting closer to Christmas and the panic knitting starts. The slipped stitches are a nice contrast to how the yarn is striping, and I love that I'm getting to do some toe-up socks for the first time in a long while. I'm hoping to finish them pretty quickly, so husbeast can wear them soon, and so I can get started on his dad's socks.

Well, Friends, that's all I have for tonight. Maybe next time I'll have an update on the Columbine needlepoint.

A good day for catching up.

It's been raining all day today, so I've been tidying up my craft room and organizing things. I did a big clean up a few weeks ago, so it wasn't too bad in there, but since I've finished the Veil of Rosebuds socks I wanted to get everything put away so I can decide what my next project will be. It needs to be something good for my commute, so probably a hat or some socks. I offered to make some socks for my father-in-law and so have been looking for the right pattern for him. I think I've decided on Salted Caramels for him because it's a nice, masculine pattern without too much patterning going on (for him) and enough patterning to be interesting (for me).

The only trouble is that I don't actually have any sock yarn that's appropriate for the project.

Hard to believe, isn't it?

Color? Gorgeous. Quantity? Good. Right for pattern? No.

With a tidy craft room, I went through my sock yarn stash and decided that none of it was right. All the pretty hand-dyed yarns were much too busy. The solids and semi-solids were not really his colors. And then, of the ones that were the right color, I didn't have enough to knit a pair of men's socks. Oh, well! I'll just have to buy more yarn!

Color? Nice, but not right for recipient. Quantity? Not even close.

 As it happens, I went looking for yarn today. I went to the three Local Yarn Shops here in Louisville, and didn't find anything I liked for these socks. One shop had some yarn I thought could work, but the yardage of the skeins was short. The second shop pretty much only had self-striping yarns, which were inappropriate for the pattern. And the third shop didn't have much sock yarn at all, and what they had was in colors I'd choose for myself, but not my father-in-law. I may end up ordering the yarn online.

On a happier note, I have indeed finished my mother-in-law's Veil of Rosebuds, and they have turned out beautifully! The Madelintosh Sock knit up so well and the colors change pretty subtly through both socks. It was a fast, easy knit, taking roughly two weeks. The lace patterning was easy to memorize, so I didn't have to think too hard on my early-morning bus rides to work.

I'm also making progress on my Columbines needlepoint. I've completed the flowers and have begun the leaves and stems. Once I get through that, I'll be able to stitch up the background and the border. The silk/merino blend yarn I'm using is giving lovely definition to the stitches and just a hint of shine. I haven't decided yet if I'll do the background in the little plain stitches or if I'll do a novelty stitch of some sort. I may head back to the shop for some advice. They're pretty nice there.

Well, that's all I have for this rainy afternoon. Until next time, Friends!

Zori, Finished!

It seems like ages ago that I promised to get my picture taken wearing my newly-finished Zori cardigan, so I'm finally delivering. One of my friends did the honors at our knit night (a week ago!) and I didn't like the pictures at first, but once I cropped my dopey expressions out of them, I liked them a whole lot better. And before you say, "but Sharri, they couldn't possibly be that bad," let me assure you that they really were. We're all better off with just the sweater pics.

I am very pleased with how well the sweater fits. It's just the right length and it has just the right amount of ease. I also love how soft the fabric is after blocking. It feels so nice against my skin. I can tell that this is going to be my go-to sweater once the weather finally cools off for good. One of my favorite things about it is that I think I found exactly the right buttons for it. Thank goodness I only made four buttonholes - each button cost $4!

I'm still working on my mother-in-law's socks, but I forgot to take pictures of them before the sun went down. Maybe I'll remember to do it tomorrow. I'll also take pictures of the progress on the Columbine needlepoint. We'll have them both to look forward to in the next post. Until then, Friends.

Starting new projects!

I finished my Zori cardigan last weekend, washed and blocked it, and by Monday it was dry. I was able to get the buttons sewn on that afternoon, but I didn't have anyone to take any photos of me wearing it, so you'll just have to wait until I can get one of my friends to do it for me at knit night. (I bet you're holding your breath for it, aren't you?)

Since I don't have any pictures of the finished cardigan, I thought I'd show you a couple other things I have going on. I've started a pair of socks for my mother-in-law, because the pair I'd intended to give her turned out to be too long. She let me know that she likes neutral colors, so I thought that the Madelintosh Tosh Sock (in Cove) that I bought in Indianapolis last year would be just the thing. I had also been wanting to knit Anne Hanson's Veil of Rosebuds, which calls for this yarn, so it was a pretty easy decision to cast on. The knitting is moving right along - mostly I'm working on it on my bus ride to work and any odd moments I have during the day. I hope to be turning the heel by the weekend.

I've also decided to dig out a needlepoint painted canvas I bought a few years ago when I was in Colorado. The image is of columbines, which I thought would be the perfect souvenir of my trip Out West. I don't know what I was thinking when I selected the yarns to stitch it. They were so awful. None of the colors were right, I didn't even buy all the colors I needed, and I bought two kinds of fiber. Seriously, I don't know what happened. Anyway, yesterday I went to my local needlepoint shop, M's Canvas House, to get more appropriate fiber to stitch this pretty canvas. The nice lady helped me choose lots of lovely silk/merino yarn and then she even taped up the edges of the canvas so I wouldn't snag my pretty new yarns. I can't wait to get going on this project! It will be kind of nice to have a non-knitting project to work on.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. I hope to get my picture taken in the Zori cardigan this week so I can show off my sweater by the weekend. Until next time, Friends.

Zori Cardigan

For the last few posts, I've said that I'd talk about my Zori cardigan in my next post, so I'm finally getting around to it. According to my Ravelry project page, I started this cardigan a little more than three weeks ago. I'm using Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherd's Wool dk yarn, which I first got to use on the Dome hat sample for CookieA. The color is called Frosty Blue, and it's a medium-darkish blue that almost looks heathered, but isn't quite.

Anyway, I started off worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn, as I'd only bought about 1700 yards, while the pattern said I'd need need about 200 yards more. I decided to take my chances and see how I was doing with the sleeves before I ordered more. I was feeling lucky since I got gauge with my first swatch, but then I quickly felt like an idiot because I couldn't figure out how to make the stitch count work with the chart. But (luckily) the designer responded quickly to a message sent on Ravelry, spelling out how the chart worked. You'd think I'd know how to read a chart by now, but I cast on for this project pretty late at night, so I have to account for my tired brain.

Once I got the hang of the chart, I zipped right along with the back and both front yokes and was able to get them blocked about a week after I cast on. I had to block pretty aggressively to achieve the measurements on the pattern, but the nice thing about these pieces is that they had straight sides so that I could use my blocking wires rather than trying to pin it out. Once everything was dry, the only seaming I had to do was for the two shoulders (which was hardly anything at all) and then pick up stitches for the stockinette bodice. By the end of another week, I'd knit the bodice to the prescribed length, but found that it was much too long, even with my long torso. I ripped out four inches and bound off again, ready to start the pretty, twisted trim edging. After a couple false starts with the trim, I eventually found my groove, and the edging practically flew off my needles.

Now I'm working on the sleeves, which I'm doing two at a time, magic loop style. It feels a little bulky when I have to turn the knitting, but I've never been the kind of knitter to do things one at a time if I can help it. Socks, gloves, mittens, sleeves: if there are two to be made, I'll do them at the same time, dammit. As of this afternoon, I've gotten about 3 inches of each sleeve completed and I hope that I'll be binding them off by next weekend. I don't expect it will be cool enough to wear this for at least another month, but it'll be nice to have a new cardigan to wear when it is.

Well, that's all for now. Until next time, Friends.

My best showing at the Fair!

Holy Crap! That's my name with that yarn & rosette!

I can't believe how well I did at the State Fair this year! I only entered four items and I won four ribbons. In addition to the ribbons, I also won the rosette for the knitting category, which just blows my mind completely. What's really exciting about winning the rosette, aside from the recognition and the big, shiny blue ribbon, is that it comes with eight skeins of Shetland wool yarn from Littledove Farms, which happens to be local to me. The yarn is all undyed, in a variety of Shetland colors: musket, moiget, moorit and white. I have to wait until next Monday to get my hands on it, and it'll be just about all I can do to keep from squealing every time I think about it.

I swear, it was the horse patch that won the ribbon.

As for the ribbon count, my Lotus socks and Lilleput cardigan both received blue ribbons. I was pretty confident about the socks, but I wasn't sure how the cardigan was going to do. My impression from past Fairs was that the judges seemed to prefer the super-cute over regular-cute and I wasn't sure my Lilleput was cute enough. Turns out I needn't have worried. It did just fine. My glacier gloves came in second place to a Fair Isle hat, which I'm fine with. I only wish it had been displayed better - viewers couldn't see all the detail of the cabling. My Raindance sweater got an Honorable Mention ribbon, which much more than I expected for it, as it was nearly all stockinette. Its unusual construction must have been what earned it the ribbon. The sweaters that placed higher had lots of intricate cabling on them, so I'm happy with the ribbon I got.


Once I got done freaking out about how well I did, I looked around at the other textiles that were on display. There was plenty of great crochet and needlepoint, as well as cross stitch and quilting. One of my favorite quilt categories is the "Made from Old," which is just like it sounds: quilts made from old blocks, but only recently finished. I particularly liked the second place quilt in this category because of the handwritten note the submitter included:

"Blocks originally made to be two twin or lap sized quilts sometime in the 1960s or 1970s. All the blocks were combined to create a double size to fit an antique four post bed. Some blocks have yellowed due to the storage method. Its nice to see the blocks in a finished quilt. Done is good."

As a matter of fact, done IS good.

Once I'd had my fill of the textiles, I went over to a different building to check out the 4-H stuff, which I love looking at. I was in 4-H when I was a kid, but I don't remember having entered anything in the Fair (I'll have to check with my Mom. She remembers this kind of thing.). Every year I'm impressed at quality of the submissions and how hard these kids have had to work. There were all kinds of agricultural products: sorghum, corn, tobacco, soybeans. There was also honey and fudge and pies. (There was also honey for sale, so I bought some.) I was impressed by the Landscape Design entries, because those kids not only had to draft a landscape plan identifying the species of plants they intended to use, but they also had to build a model that matched the plan. Those models were no joke!

I love watching the ducklings climb up and slide down.

Well, I think that's about all I can write about this year's Fair. Next time, I promise an update on Zori. Until then, Friends!